Loving God, you make us your own through our baptism into Christ and raise us to new life through Jesus.  By the power of your Spirit, teach us to recognize your blessings and to share the love that you have first shared with us, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Having just been through an election, most of you probably have a pretty good idea what the word “election” means.  In an election, you are choosing somebody – somebody to lead – somebody to serve.  You are choosing one person, or party, or group, over another person, or party, or group.  Oddly enough, God also seems to elect certain people who are both chosen and blessed.

         Abraham and Sarah are chosen out of all of the families of the earth.  Abel is chosen rather than Cain.  Isaac is chosen rather than Ishmael.  And Jacob is chosen rather than Esau.  Certain people seem to be among “the elect,” while others are not.  And often, the reasons for one being favoured over another are never really explained.

         In Jacob’s case, he was the youngest rather than the eldest, and he was his mother’s favourite.  In fact, he and his mother conspired together in order to trick his father Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing that was normally reserved for the first-born.  And so, after having gotten Esau to sell his birthright to him, and also having stolen Esau’s blessing, Jacob is sent off to visit his uncle so that his brother doesn’t kill him.

         It is on this journey that Jacob has the amazing dream that we heard about today.  In fact, not only does Jacob see the link between heaven and earth, and all of the angels, but he also receives some incredible promises from God.  They are the same promises that were given to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac – the promise of land, and offspring, and being a blessing to all nations.  However, there is an additional message for Jacob:

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 (Gen. 28:15).

         Perhaps it is even more amazing that, at least as far as we know, Jacob has done absolutely nothing to deserve God’s favour.  This is pure promise on God’s part.  There is no, “if you do this, this, and this, then I will bless you.”  It is simply, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.”

         In this respect, it is not that different from the promises that God makes to each one of us in baptism.  In baptism, God says to each one of us, “You are my own precious child, and I love you.  Because of my Son, Jesus, you have been washed by water and the Spirit and have been raised to new life.  Because of Jesus, you are forgiven.  You are called, chosen, saved and born again.”  God says this to us, not because we have done anything to deserve it, but because either we, or the people around us, have put our faith in Jesus Christ.

         It is interesting to note that some seem to think that “Jacob’s ladder” is there for us to climb (or the “stairway to heaven,” if you will).  However, it is not Jacob who goes up, but God who comes down.  In fact, it is the angels who actually travel between heaven and earth.  And then, in the gospel of John, we hear about Jesus, who has become the link between heaven and earth on which the angels travel (Jn. 1:50-51).  And once again – in Jesus – it is God who has come down.

         God comes to us through Jesus, and we are not asked to climb anything.  However, we are chosen, or elected, or favoured, or whatever word you’d like to choose.  This does not mean that we are the only recipients of God’s blessing, or that our lives will be easy, for those whom God chooses often end up suffering.  However, it does mean that we have been chosen as participants in God’s mission to love and to bless the world and as inheritors of eternal life.

         As we walk in God’s way, we have been given a promise that is very similar to the promise given to Jacob.  It is found at the very end of the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus sends out his followers to be disciples and to make disciples, and says to them and to us, “remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).  This is the same promise that travels with Flat Jesus, and that is fulfilled by the power of the Holy Spirit.

         Let us, then, go out today in the power of that same Spirit in order to share God’s love with all people, for in this is life, and this is our calling through Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

Pentecost 18 (NL 4)                        Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23; 28:10-17

September 26, 2021                       John 1:50-51

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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