The Stairway to Heaven—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 8A/Proper 11A (Genesis 28)

Genesis 28:10-19A  New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁰ Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ 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. ¹² And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And the Lord stood beside him 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, ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ 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.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” ¹⁷ 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.”

¹⁸ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he 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. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel.  

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                If you know the Led Zeppelin song “Stairway to Heaven,” the song has to come to mind when reading this passage. Now the lyrics to the famous song have nothing to do with Jacob, many might start humming the tune. While the temptation might be there, I don’t recommend the Led Zeppelin song as the choir anthem. 

                When we last left Jacob, he had just swindled his brother Esau out of his birthright for a pot of stew (Gen. 24:29-34). Between that event and the events described here in Genesis 28, Jacob received Isaac’s blessing and fled from a very angry Esau. His mother, Rebekah, warned him to flee, sending him to her brother Laban in search of a wife. We pick up the story as Jacob is traveling toward Laban’s home. 

                As Jacob traveled toward Haran, he stopped for the night. Taking a stone for a pillow (a mighty firm pillow at that), he sent to sleep. As he slept, he began dreaming. In this dream, he saw a ladder that extended from the earth to heaven. On this ladder or stairway, he saw angels ascending and descending. Most scholars believe that what is being referenced here is a ramp or stairway going up a ziggurat, a temple that was prominent in Mesopotamia. Historically, that might be helpful, but not necessary for own reflection.   

                In the midst of this dream, Yahweh stood next to him. Yahweh said to Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the Good of Isaac; the land on which you lie will be given to you and your offspring” (Gen. 28:13). In this word to Jacob, Yahweh reaffirmed the original covenant of blessing made to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-5). In fact, Yahweh makes this clear by telling Jacob that his offspring would be like the “dust of the earth,” spreading across the land north and south; east and west. Here is where the promise to Abraham comes into play: “All the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring” (Gen. 28:14). Finally, Yahweh promises to be with Jacob always. This is a promise that Jesus makes to the disciples also and assumedly their spiritual descendants (Matt. 28:20). All of this has to be good news to a fugitive who had to use a rock for a pillow!

                 After Jacob woke up from this dream in which he encountered Yahweh, who had descended from heaven on the stairway, he proclaimed that the LORD (Yahweh) was in this place. In making this declaration Jacob declared this to be a sacred site even though when he stopped for the night, he didn’t realize it was sacred. This realization infused in him a bit of fear. How had he not known this? Now that he knew this, he was awe-struck. This place captivated him. Now that he knew this to be true, he proclaimed that the LORD was in this place. Therefore, now that he knew that this was a gateway to heaven, it would now be known as Beth-El or House of God. Whether this had been a sacred spot before this moment, now that it had hosted a divine encounter it was truly a sacred site.  

                As we reflect on this reading from Genesis 28, perhaps this is a good place to do some reflecting on the nature of sacred spaces. From the description of this spot, there was nothing special about it. Jacob stopped there not because it held some special significance. He was tired and so he lay down to sleep. As he did so, he had a divine encounter that sacralized the spot. So, what might serve us as sacred spaces? Where might we encounter God in our own lives?

                Most religions and faith traditions hold certain sites to be sacred. Quite often adherents of these religions mark these sites with shrines or temples. For Abrahamic religions, Mount Sinai is sacred. For Jews, it is the Western Wall in Jerusalem and for Muslims it is Mecca. As for Christians, there are several qualifiers including the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. I have a Jewish friend who wants to pray at the Tomb of Abraham in Hebron with a Christian and a Muslim. Many of these sites serve as pilgrimage sites. Perhaps you’ve made a pilgrimage to a site holy to your faith tradition, or perhaps one that is sacred to you. A decade back I took a sabbatical. Among the places I visited was the Episcopal church in La Crescenta, California, where I was baptized. Although I am a minister in a denomination that practices believer baptism by immersion and was immersed during my high school years, visiting that site was an important reminder of where and how my spiritual journey began. During that same sabbatical, I visited Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford to be a place of divine encounter during an evensong service. So, where might you have had one of these divine encounters? Was it a sacred shrine or simply a place that proved meaningful to you?

                Now Jacob’s journey had just begun. He was heading toward the home of his uncle, where he expected to find a wife (since Rebekah didn’t want him to marry a Canaanite woman) (Gen. 28:1-5). He will find not just one, but four wives, along the way. But that part of the story is still ahead. Nevertheless, God’s promise of descendants who will be bearers of the promise of blessing will continue into the next generation.

                Jacob marked this spot on which he had the dream and received confirmation of his role in fulfilling God’s promise, even if it involved a bit of trickery. In the grand scheme of things, it appears that this little scheme of Jacob and Rebekah fulfilled God’s intended purpose. So, to mark the spot, Jacob took that stone that had served as his pillow and set it up as a pillar. Then he poured oil on it, to anoint or consecrate the monument. As he did so, he named the place Bethel or House of God.

                If we are, as I believe, heirs of the promise to Abraham in Christ (Gal. 3:29), then this word from God to Jacob would apply to us. We are bearers of the promise to serve as a blessing to the families of the earth. As with God’s promise to Jacob, Jesus has promised to be with us always as we continue this journey of blessing. When it comes to the sacred markers in our lives, they might be well-designated sites such as a cathedral or a church where we were baptized or confirmed or even ordained as I was many years ago. Or it could be a spot in nature where you had a divine encounter. Whether you marked it in some way as Jacob did this spot, that sacred site has been marked in our hearts. As we take this spiritual journey, we go forward in the company of Jesus who promises to be with us always and does so through the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit. Whether we return to pilgrimage sites or not, in our hearts, we have markers that remind us of our calling to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. 

Image Attribution: Swanson, John August. Dream of Jacob, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56541 [retrieved July 14, 2023]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.