Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Scott Tunseth.
After the trickster Jacob receives the blessing of his father Isaac, he must flee from his angry brother Esau. Isaac tells him to flee to the house of Bethuel, his mother’s father, and take as a wife one of the daughters of Laban, his mother Rebekah’s brother. One of his cousins, in other words. For now, the blessing has to stay in the family.
On the way to Bethuel’s house in Paddan-aram, which was far to the north (in modern-day Turkey) and along the route Abraham and Sarah had traveled from Babylonia to the land of Canaan, Jacob stopped at a place for the night. Curiously, he chooses a rock to lay his head on (my neck gets stiff thinking about it) and begins to dream. In his vivid dream Jacob sees a stairway on the earth reaching up to the heaven and angels moving up and down it.
What an exciting image! But what comes next is the real point of the dream. The Lord speaks, saying “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 and to your offspring” (Gen 28:13). And God goes on to promise Jabob many descendants and that through them all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Once again, the blessings promised to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 12, 15, and 17, and in chapter 22 right after God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac are now repeated to Jacob. The promises include a land to call home, a huge family, and blessings galore. And, most importantly, those blessings are not only for the chosen family of Israel. The chosen family will spread the blessings to all the other families of earth.
When Jacob woke from his sleep he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” And so, the place is called Bethel, which means “place/house (BETH) of God (EL).” The arc of the story of God and God’s people is alive and well in Jacob and will continue through the descendants of Jacob, who we are yet to meet in the story.
We have the advantage and the challenge of standing on this side of at least four thousand years of history. We are descendants of the blessing God first gave to the earliest descendants of Israel. We are part of the chosen family. The writer of First Peter puts it this way: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people in order that may proclaim excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
The questions that arise here seem obvious: As God’s chosen, how will we bless others? How will we be vessels of light? Who will we be, Prince of Peace, and how will our “being” be clear for all to see?Gracious God, we give thanks that all the world is your place. Give us courage to live in your world as instruments of blessing. Amen.