Sermon for 10/15/23: Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity

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Dreams Come True
Genesis 28:10-17

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

Jacob had a dream. Perhaps this dream was, to some extent, initiated by the stresses of life. Jacob was on the run from the wrath of his brother, Esau, who had threatened to kill him. He was on the run from his father, Isaac, who was disappointed by the deception Jacob had used to gain the blessing intended for Esau. Whatever the case, it was a dream the Lord was going to use for His purposes and Jacob’s eternal blessing.

Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, a grandson of Abraham and Sarah. His twin brother, Esau, was born first, with Jacob following, grasping his brother’s heel. From birth on, Esau was the sturdiest in stature and was a gifted hunter and provider. Jacob was slighter in stature. But God often chooses what seems to us to be the weaker—think of Abel and Joseph, Gideon and David, Jeremiah and even Jesus Himself, who did not stand out among men in ways that one would look for in the Messiah. This helps explain why, in today’s Gospel reading, our Lord’s pronouncement of the forgiveness of sin and then healing the paralytic completely confused the religious leaders.

It was through cunning and deception that Jacob secured the birthright and blessing away from his brother. And although favored by his mother, he could not remain safely in his home; he ran for protection to his mother’s brother, Laban. And now he has this dream, followed by God repeating His promise as given to Abraham and Isaac. And this same promise of life and salvation has been kept not just to those three, but to all who share their faith in the one true God.

Jacob awoke from his dream afraid. It had been an overwhelming experience. He had seen the glory of God firsthand. God had spoken to him as God had spoken to Adam and to Noah and to Enoch and to his grandfather and his father. Despite his failings and shortcomings—and they were many—Jacob had been set aside by God in a way that went far beyond his thinking when he had fraudulently secured the birthright and blessing from his brother. This was an overwhelming moment for him, wondering what God was going to do with him in all of this.

But God causes all things to happen so that sinners will call upon Him in the day of trouble, that He would deliver them. St. Paul said: “All things work together for the good of those who love God, and are called according to His purpose.” And now God had called Jacob according to the purpose He had for him. As little as Jacob’s faith may have been, God kept him in that faith, never letting him go. Jacob was like that paralytic. He had no strength, no ability of his own, to get to Jesus. Still, Jesus saw this man’s faith and healed first his soul, which needed healing first, through the forgiveness of sins. The ability to get up and walk was secondary, but it was a visible sign to all that Jesus does indeed have authority over all things in heaven and on earth.

When we look at Jacob honestly, we are looking into the mirror of weakness and sin. On that night, with nothing but a rock for a pillow, God used Jacob’s brokenness to pull him back into the fold, into that promise of life and salvation given to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Isaac, and, eventually to David and Solomon. That promise remained, even as God’s people were exiled to Babylon. That was the promise Jesus brought when He healed and forgave Jew and Gentile alike. That was the promise with which Jesus sent out His disciples, that good news of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life offered to all. And it is with that same promise that the Holy Spirit works the miracle of faith in the hearts of those who hear Him.

God shows His great love for mankind as He restores Jacob and all who are like him. Remember Peter: at the miracle of the huge catch of fish, he asked Jesus to get away from him because he was a sinful man. He knew he did not deserve the love and forgiveness of God. “I do not know the man,” Peter would later say of Jesus, but then he wept bitterly, only to be restored as Jesus sent him out to feed His sheep.

Like Jacob, your dream, your desire to put the past behind you and to be restored to God, has come true. You have heard Jesus speak the words that your sins are forgiven, just as the cripple in the Gospel heard those same words. God keeps His promise to all people, continuing to be their God and promising to never leave nor forsake them. The Son of God kept His promise as He fulfilled all and conquered all, even death and the grave. And now, like Jacob, He has brought you back through His Word. No longer will you flee from your deceptions; no longer will you run from your former life. You are God’s dear child for eternity through Holy Baptism. At the Last Day, God will send His angels at the last trumpet; He will gather you together with all the faithful from the four winds, from the ends of the earth. Thanks be to God for this remarkable promise, this dream come true. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.