Genesis 28,10-19. 14. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Genesis 28,10-19        4919

14. Sn. n. Trinitatis 059 

Jonah

Emmeran, Bishop, Apostle in Bavaria, Martyr 652 

22. September 2019 

1. O Christ Jesus, our Great Physician; may the Holy Spirit always instilled in us a faithful gratitude toward You, so that we do not take for granted Your Providence but daily thank and praise You for the blessings You bestow upon us.  Amen. (Luke 17,15-19)  

2. »Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he arrived at a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: „I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your Offspring. Your Offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.“ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: „Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.“ And he was afraid and said: „How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.“ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel (which means, „house of God“), but the name of the city was originally Luz (which means, „almond tree“). Then Jacob made a vow, saying: „If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that You give me I will give a full tenth to You.“«

3. The context of Jacob’s dream is that he is leaving his homeland of Beersheba, Canaan. He had twice tricked his brother, Esau, out of the blessing to the first born. Esau was angry about losing his birthright to his younger brother. Isaac then sent Jacob away so that he would be out of sight to Esau and also so he could take a wife from among his kinsfolk. Jacob is sent to Paddanaram where his maternal uncle, Laban, lives 

4. Along the way, Jacob has a dream wherein the Lord spoke to him the same promises he had spoken to his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham: 1. I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac; 2. the land upon which you now sleep, I will give to you; 3. your offspring will be like the dust of the earth; 4. all the families of the earth will be blessed by your Offspring; and 5. I am with you and will provide for you. The Lord spoke encouraging words to a young man setting out to fulfill his future. 

5. Let us not gloss over Jacob’s actions. He was a shrewd man, and he lived up to his name which means deceiver. The Lord had promised the blessing to Jacob rather than Esau, and Jacob took measures upon himself to ensure he receive this blessing. He convinced Esau to sell it away to him, and then, disguised as Esau, he deceived his father to bless him. He would soon match wits with his Uncle Laban, another masterful schemer, and the two would spend years trying to one up the other to gain the best deal from the other. Here in Genesis 28 we see a more humble Jacob, who vows to worship the Lord as his God if the Lord fulfills the grandiose promises He had made to him. Jacob, like his father and grandfather before him, is a man of his word. 

6. Again we hear that promise, first given to Abraham, repeated to Jacob: »In you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.« The Apostle Paul tells us that this Offspring who blesses is Christ Jesus (Galatians 3,16). 

7. Jacob declares that where he dreamed and the Lord spoke to him to be the house of God (Bethel) and the gate of heaven. God dwells where His house is, and Jacob proclaims that God is dwelling in his midst. Jacob already feels that he is and lives in God’s house (Luther 5,245). Jesus, the Offspring of Jacob, promises us: »Where two or three gather in My Name, there I am among them« (Matthew 18,20). Here He fulfills with a greater glory what Jacob had experienced, for Jesus establishes His Church wherever two are gathered to worship Him. For where God dwells, there the Church is; for the Church is God’s house and the gate of heaven, where the entrance to eternal life and departure from the earthly to the heavenly life are opened (Luther 5,245). In His house, His Church, Christ speaks with us, deals with us, feeds us and cares for us (Luther 5,249). Thus God ministered to Jacob. So when anyone reads and meditates on the Holy Scriptures, then be assured that God is present there with the angels (Luther 5,251). 

8. The Apostle Paul reminds us: »But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us« (Romans 5,8). Jacob was a sinner when God gave him the blessing; he did not fully comprehend all the specifics of this Messianic blessing; God would mold and shape him, much like a sculptor does clay, throughout most of his life to get Jacob where He wanted him. God likewise uses us as He finds us, bestows upon us His mercy and forgiveness, then begins to mold and shape us into His Image and Likeness. It will take a lifetime, but God is patient and persistent. His mercy and goodness overflows (Psalm 23,5-6). 

  9. Esau did not receive the Messianic blessing, but God still blessed him richly: he had children, land, possessions and 400 men who would fight under his banner. The Lord would make his descendants a mighty nation known as Edom. It had been 20 years since Jacob had deceived Esau and obtained his birthright and blessing. Was Esau harboring a grudge and still waiting for the opportunity to repay his younger brother, or had time and God’s blessings healed old wounds? Moses tells us: »Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him and they wept« (Genesis 33,4). The Lord reconciled the estranged brothers, and richly blessed them both and had chosen Jacob to be the forebears of the Messiah.

10. This act of reconciliation is what Jacob’s Offspring, Jesus, did for us. Jesus has reconciled us back to His Heavenly Father. His vicarious sacrifice has redeemed us back to our Father; He has paid the price for our sins and we are forgiven. We, our Father’s prodigal sons and daughters, have been brought home. Jesus desires to also reconcile all who are estranged: friend from friend, sibling from a sibling and parent from child. God reconciled Jacob and Esau; God works to reconcile our relationships, too. We rejoice in our reconciliation with God, and we pray for Him to reconcile those who are estranged. „If we pray seriously and perseveringly, the only result can be that a friend is made out of an enemy. Let us cry out and place our hope … on the goodness and mercy of God. Then God most certainly hears us„ (Luther 6,166).  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, who shows compassion to His children; pour out Your compassion upon us, so that we daily receive and trust in Your loving-kindness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Giertz, Bo. Preaching from the Whole Bible. Copyright © 1967 Lutheran Legacy Publishing. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand. 

    Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 5: Genesis 26-30. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1968 Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 6: Genesis 31-37. Jaroslav Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1970 Concordia Publishing House.