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| August 3, 2008 |
Jacob – a ladder up to heaven Reading time about nine minutes Reader one: In the folk tales of many people, the heroes are 100% good and the villains are 100% bad. None of them were really believable human beings. Reader two: But in the legends of the Hebrew people, their heroes are people with their feet on the ground. Like us, they stumble and fall, and get up, only to stumble again. Reader one: This is true of the characters in our on-going story. Rebekah had come from another country to marry Isaac. She was a woman of great courage and resourcefulness, and she takes charge of the household because Isaac is a bit of a wimp. Reader two: Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, who started fighting while they were still in Rebekah’s womb – Esau is a red-headed out-door type, and Jacob is the schemer, the trickster. Reader one: The two boys were not so much individuals as representatives. This is a story told to explain origins of two tribes, the Edomites represented by Esau, and the Israelites, represented by Jacob. And it is told from the Israelite point of view, so Esau is represented as a bumbling, slow-witted oaff. Reader two:
Last week we heard how Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright. Esau was the first born of the twins and so technically should inherit everything from father Isaac. But mother Rebekah thinks Isaac should inherit the family fortune. (SLIGHT PAUSE) Reader one: When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau. Reader two: “My son, come near me.” Reader one: “Here I am.” Reader two: “Esau, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.” Reader one: Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. Reader two: “I heard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes; and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” Reader one: “But mother, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” Reader two: “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me.” Reader one: So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother who prepared savory food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob; and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob. Reader two: “My father. . .”; Reader one: “Here I am; who are you, my son?” Reader two: “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” Reader one: ”How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” Reader two: “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Reader one: “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not. The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Are you really my son Esau?” Reader two: “I am.” Reader one: “Then bring the food to me, that I may eat and bless you.” Reader two: So Jacob brought it to Isaac, and he ate. Jacob brought his father wine and he drank. Reader one: “Come near and kiss me, my son.” Reader two: So Jacob came near and kissed him. Isaac smelled the smell of his garments. Reader one:
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. Reader two: When Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau came in from his hunting. He also prepared savory food, and brought it to his father. Reader one: “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.” Reader two: “Who are you?” Reader one: “I am your firstborn son, Esau.” Reader two: “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? – yes, and blessed he shall be!” Reader one: Oh no!!!! Bless me, me also, father!” Reader two: “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” Reader one: “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has tricked me these two times. He took away my birthright; and look, now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” Reader two: “I have already made him your lord, and I have given him all his brothers as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” Reader one: And so Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Reader two: “The days of mourning for my father are approaching. When he dies, then I will kill my brother Jacob.” Reader one: Rebekah; called her younger son Jacob. Reader two: “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away – until your brother’s anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and bring you back from there.” Reader one: Jacob left home and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the 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. And Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside Jacob and spoke to him. Reader two: “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. And your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that 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.” Reader one: Then Jacob woke from his sleep. Reader two: “Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Reader one: So 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 that place Bethel which means, the House of God. Then Jacob made a vow. Reader two: “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 surely give one tenth to you.” (SLIGHT PAUSE) Reader one: That is the nature of the matriarchs and patriarchs – the people in the legends of our spiritual past. Rebekah masterminds the plot and Jacob steals his brothers in heritance. But even so, God’s blessing – God’s promise rests on them. Jacob sleeps and dreams of a ladder going up to heaven, and of God coming and standing beside him. Speaking to him. Blessing him. Reader two: The legends of the Bible are not about people who find God and then do everything perfectly. The biblical saga is the story of a people in search of God’s way – it is about the human journey – the journey towards wholeness and faith. Reader one:
Next week we will hear the story of how Jacob the trickster meets his match in his Uncle Laban – and how Jacob is tricked into marrying the wrong woman. NOTE: The above is written in the style of “Reader’s Theatre,” a very simple but effective way of presenting the biblical story that can be done in any church, large or small. For more information about how to do Reader’s Theatre, click on this link. Note: You have permission to use this in any worship service. No credit line is required, though it would be nice if you put in something like, “A Readers’ Theatre presentation of the Story-Lectionary.com project.” |