Sermon: Jacob's Ladder

Text: Genesis 28:10-19a

Date: July 17, 2005

Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, Eagle Harbor Congregational Church

It’s no ordinary dream. It’s no run-of-the-mill nighttime excursion that has the dreamer showing up at work without pants on or falling in love with a beautiful stranger or eating a bowl of spaghetti that morphs into snakes. None of that crazy routine dream stuff.

This is one of those dreams that makes the hair stand up on the back of the dreamer’s neck as he opens his eyes and tries to come to grips with what he has seen and heard. This one of those dreams that makes the scalp prickle and the heart pound, not in fear exactly, but in something that lives in the same neighborhood as fear. Well, alright, fear; it’s there in verse17, “and he was afraid…”—but on the heels of fear is awe and wonder. “How awesome is this place!”

Have you had one of those dreams? One of those when you woke knowing God or someone was trying to communicate with you?

The vision Jacob sees has been the subject of countless works of art. We noticed in Bible study this week that Jacob’s ladder seems to be one of those Bible stories we learned early and never forgot. There is something about the image of the ladder planted on earth and stretching up to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it that really captures the imagination. We don’t know why, exactly—why does this picture stick with us? There’s something about it.

I blew the dust off of a couple of books about the work of Carl Jung, wondering if the ladder would show up as some kind archetypal symbol. I didn’t find it there, but when I googled on dream symbols, I found the ladder in one of the dream dictionaries online, and since it is on the internet this must be true:

Ladder

The ladder may indicate access to high places in this life or access to special places in the universe. It is also sometimes an object you fall from when you have dreams that include the falling sensation.

The central idea of a ladder is gaining special, albeit precarious, access to other places. Such access often carries with it the possibility of a dramatic loss of ability or favor with the prevailing influences of the situation.

If you are in a situation that requires you to obtain a ladder, it may be that you see yourself as inadequate in your current means. The limitations of height and gravity are acutely felt in this world. If your dreams do not offer you the possibility of flight, the ladder is often the only solution to the problem.[1]

Not exactly profound, but somewhat helpful. I think we can definitely conclude about Jacob’s dream that access to special places in the universe is indicated. What’s more, there’s no doubt that Jacob would have seen himself as inadequate in his current situation. He has just fled home to avoid fratricide after robbing his slightly older twin brother of his birthright and his father’s blessing. He’s off to who-knows-where to look for who-knows-who to marry, and to do who-knows-what after that. He was probably feeling mighty alone out there when he had that powerful dream.

It’s not just an empty ladder, but one crawling with angels. Want to know what the dream dictionary said about angels as symbols? They are messengers. (We knew that already from previous experience of reading the Bible.) As symbols, they “represent help from an unknown and unseeable origin to survive a difficult situation.” The person who dreams of angels is reaching for help beyond his or her power to help themselves. That fits with Jacob’s situation, even though the story doesn’t say in so many words that he is looking for help. God just shows up unannounced to offer help and assurance, as God is apt to do, even before the inadequate and lost human can get around to asking.

That’s a bit of what 2005 interpreters might have to say about Jacob’s ladder. It’s an ancient story, and I found some data about how Hasidic rabbis have interpreted Jacob’s dream over the years. These rabbis of yesteryear didn’t know from Jung, but they didn’t need any fancy-schmancy dream dictionaries to take a stab at what Jacob’s dream may mean. It was fascinating to discover very different interpretations, which suggests to me that the dream functions like a parable. I’m drawing heavily on the work of Rabbi Shai Held who dug up these Hasidic commentaries and wrote an article about them.

Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (the "Kedushat Levi"), one of the greatest of the Hasidic masters, offers a daring reading of Jacob's vision. He suggests that the ladder is intended to represent human beings in this world. Like the ladder, each of us is firmly planted on earth--we are corporeal beings with bodily needs and earthly desires. But through religious practice and striving, we are capable of "reaching upward"--presumably through entering into intellectual and emotional relationship with God, doing God's will, and becoming the kind of…human being God asks for.

But our text goes much further than merely telling us that we can live on earth and still touch heaven. According to Levi Yitzhak, the ascent-descent of the angels suggests that the heavens themselves are affected by our actions. When we perform [what our Jewish cousins call] a mitzvah (commandment), we effect a form of cosmic repair (tikkun)--thus sending angels upward, as it were. And conversely, tragically, when we sin and violate God's will, we do damage to the very cosmos--thus forcing angels downward and "shrinking the heavenly hosts."

However metaphorically we understand his interpretation, the thrust of Levi Yitzhak's comments is clear: God, too, is affected by the choices we make. It seems beyond question that the quality of human life on earth is deeply impacted by the decisions we make and the course of action we take; the daring of [this] theology is its suggestion that the quality of God's life is, as it were, similarly impacted. In Abraham Joshua Heschel's memorable terms, the God of Judaism is not Aristotle's Unmoved Mover but rather the [Old Testament’s] radically affected "Most Moved Mover." According to Levi Yitzhak, through seeing the ladder and the angelic motion taking place on it, Jacob learns of his own potential and of its cosmic repercussions.

Ephraim of Sudlikov, another early Hasidic Master, offers a very different interpretation of Jacob's vision. The ladder filled with upward and downward motion is a metaphor for the religious life of any human being here on earth. There are times when we are in "expanded consciousness" and feel a deep connection to God and [faith] (we are, in those moments, "ascending the ladder"), but there are also times when we are afflicted by "contracted consciousness" and feel far away from God (we are then, of course, "descending the ladder").

There is nothing wrong with this up-and-down process, Ephraim assures us. It is an inherent piece of the spiritual life. In fact, it is crucial that we understand that our descents make possible fuller and deeper ascents. Just as in a human relationship, distance or crisis now can often lead to a more profound sense of connection and intimacy later; so in our relationship to God, a period of descent can culminate in a more genuine connection to God. This, Ephraim tells us, is "descent for the purpose of ascent."

The angels or messengers whom Jacob sees journeying up and down the ladder are religious masters. God seeks to show him that even--and perhaps especially--religious leaders of enormous spiritual attainment suffer through moments of distance and descent. But they have no need for fear, since they know that their descent will yet culminate in an ascent that has until now been beyond their imagination.

It is significant, I think, that God shows this to Jacob precisely at a moment in which he is alone and afraid. It is as if God seeks to reassure him: "This very sense of alienation and disconnection you feel may yet lead you to find Me in entirely new ways." Just as your spiritual life wanes, it may yet wax stronger than you yourself thought possible. And the waxing may owe much to the waning.

A third interpretation of Jacob's vision can be found in a medieval midrash known as "Midrash HaGadol" ("The Great Midrash"). According to the midrash, what Jacob actually sees is the future revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Torah serves as a kind of ladder that connects heaven and earth: We strive to live lives firmly rooted in the real world and yet reflective of the values and ideals of heaven. In a moment of utter fear and darkness, Jacob is shown that which can make life meaningful by giving it a connection to transcendence--the Torah, which eternally links God and Israel. [We Christians, relative newcomers, would speak about the Bible as this link, a revelation of the way God wants us to live that includes and expands on the Torah.]

The angels of God who go up and down the ladder signify a religious truth that is also a form of challenge to the Jewish [and Christian] people: "If your children observe [the Faith], they will be raised up; but if they flout it, they will be brought low." In other words, living according to the ideals of our faith can bring us closer to God and to a higher spiritual level. But failing to do so will drive us further and further away from God and the values God holds dear. The depth of our connection to [a genuine practice of our faith] will affect the place we hold on the ladder (how high or how low), and the authenticity of our striving will determine the direction of our movement (are we headed closer to God or further away?).

The three interpretations we have seen are not unrelated. Levi Yitzhak emphasizes that the choices we make affect not only our world but God's as well-- and that we should strive to live accordingly. Ephraim reminds us that our own religious lives are dynamic and constantly in motion--and we should embrace that fact rather than fear it. Midrash HaGadol articulates a stark reality of the path: To receive [an authentic practice of our faith tradition] truly in our lives is to find a way back to God and to restore wholeness to the world (ours and God's). In taking hold of [the Faith], we ascend the ladder toward heaven, healing and transforming ourselves--and heaven, too. [2]

What spiritual truth do you find revealed in this dream and this buffet of interpretations? Is there anything here that enriches our understanding of how we relate to God?

This is what I’m taking away from reflecting on Jacob’s dream and the variety of interpretations I’ve investigated. I appreciate the insight of the dream dictionaries that we humans often feel inadequate to meet the challenges we face in the course of our life, and that we reach out for help from unseen realms. I’m amused by the suggestion that if our dreams don’t offer us the possibility of flight, a ladder is the next best thing. Many uncertainties attend the life of faith, in my experience; sometimes following the Christian way feels a little like climbing a rickety ladder, when I’d much prefer to be soaring away from all questions, doubts and failings. But I’d rather be climbing the ladder than just being grounded in a flat secular life. I’m so grateful that God offers a way to transcend our meaningless and lonely existence by giving us as a gift a faith to practice, even if our practice sometimes feels like one step up and two steps down.

I agree with the daring idea that what we do affects not only our life but the Divine life. I truly believe that our goodness or lack thereof affects God in some mysterious way. What we do and don’t do matters. I also appreciate deeply the insight that the life of faith is not some constant upward path but that we experience both ascent and descent in our striving toward union with God during different seasons of our life.

The big “aha” for me is pretty basic--the reminder in the revelation of the dream that there is traffic between earth and heaven. There is two-way traffic—those angels going up and down remind me again that we communicate with God and God communicates with us. We are really and truly connected with the spiritual realm; our two worlds are linked. We are gifted with moments and places when the connection leaps out at us, as it did for Jacob in the dream.

Our hope for the church is that this place here will be a rung on your ladder. Our hope is that this will actually be, at least once in a while, “the house of God and the gate to heaven.”

What do you think this dream means? Is there a message here for you?

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[1] http://predictions.astrology.com/dd/ladder.html

[2] “The Ladder to Heaven” by Rabbi Shai Held, linked at textweek.com