Many of you know that our readings each Sunday come from what’s known as the Revised Common Lectionary.
And, it’s called the “common” lectionary, because it’s used by most Christian denominations each Sunday.
And, I absolutely love that! I love that each and every week, millions of Christians around the word (be they Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, or UCC) are all focusing on the same readings.
The lectionary reading for today is the story of Jacob’s Ladder, one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament.
When Jesus was a boy, he – like all good Jews – would have heard this story growing up. It comes from the Torah, the central teachings of Judaism.
Now, back then, almost no Jewish families had copies of the Torah in their home.
Remember, most people in Jesus’s day were not well-educated. They couldn’t read or write, so the stories of the Torah were taught to them orally.
The stories in the Torah were meant to convey great and mysterious spiritual truths in ways that were simple and easy for people to understand and remember.
That’s why we hear such dramatic things in the Torah, like talking snakes, burning bushes, parting seas, and ladders to heaven, because those images stay in your head.
Now, no one at the time took these stories literally. The ancient Jewish people told stories symbolically.
They didn’t take Scripture literally, and neither should we.
The contemporary Christian theologian, John Dominic Crossan (who was part of the very famous Jesus Seminar) once said: “My point is not that the ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically. My point is that they told symbolic stories, and we’re now dumb enough to take them literally.”
So, let’s look at today’s story of Jacob’s ladder symbolically, the way it was meant to be understood.
As we just heard, Jacob is alone in the wilderness and he has a vision.
We see this same scenario throughout the Bible from Moses up on the mountaintop alone to Jesus out in the desert alone.
“The Wilderness” in the Bible symbolizes “liminal space,” a “threshold” or a “doorway” between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm, between matter and spirit, between the physical and the metaphysical.
Some of you may have heard of the Celtic term “thin places,” places where the boundary between heavenly realm and earthly realm is especially thin.
Each of us on the spiritual path must venture in the darkness alone, so that we, too, can experience the presence of the Divine.
Jacob experiences this presence, and you can experience it, too…that’s the point of the story. That’s what the Scripture is trying to convey.
So, where is this ladder that connects the earthly realm and the heavenly realm?
Well, St. Isaac on Ninevah, who lived in the 1st Century, said:
“The Ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven is hidden within you. Within your soul. Dive down into yourself and there you will find the steps by which you can ascend.”
He wrote this in the 1st Century. I know that some of you may think I’m sharing all of this New Age Spirituality with you, but I’m sharing with you the “Old Age,” the Wisdom of the Ages.
The ladder that connects you and God is within you. Like Jesus said in Luke 17:21, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”
You have to descend within so that you can ascend spiritually.
Jacob, alone in the wilderness, remembers his true identity as a child a God. And he hears God say, “Know that I am with you wherever you go.”
God is always with us, my friends, because the Kingdom of Heaven is within us.
It’s why Jacob proclaims, “How awesome is this place! God is in this place and I did not know it! This is the gate of heaven!”
The Gate of Heaven is within you. You have access to it. Right here and right now. That’s what Jesus meant by, “The Kingdom of Heaven is here and now.”
Our Eastern brothers and sisters of the Buddhist and Hindu faiths refer to this “internal ladder” as the chakras.
It’s no coincidence that there are seven rungs on Jacob’s ladder and seven chakras. The number seven is a very spiritual number.
We see it throughout the Bible, from the 7 days of creation in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) to the 7 churches in Revelation (the last book of the Bible).
The number “seven” is not a literal number. It symbolizes a period of “spiritual completion.” Seven stages, seven steps to spiritual enlightenment.
Our Buddhist and Hindu brothers and sisters speak of the seven chakras, the seven energy centers that run through our bodies. The spiritual practice is to keep them in alignment.
Sitting on the ground in the lotus position, our root chakra touches earth, but through prayer, meditation and devotion, we can align this energy with the crown chakra, the place of enlightenment.
This is why we see monks who have shaved this spot on their heads. It’s why Jewish men wear yarmulkes to honor that spot.
It’s the connection between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm.
The angels that ascend and descend in Jacob’s dream represent this energy, flowing in both directions, moving within us.
The word “angel” means “messenger.”
When we pray and meditate, we are going within to that secret dwelling place of the Most High, so that we – like Jacob – can hear the voice of God, the voice that says, “I am with you always.”
In the silence of prayer, we make that connection. We remember the Truth of our being. We recognize our Oneness with God.
Climbing the ladder symbolizes our rising in Higher Consciousness.
This rising is a process, a step-by-step process.
Some of us are on the first rung. Others of us are on the fourth are fifth rung. It’s a process.
The important thing to remember is that wherever we are, God is with us, each step of the way.
And, so, this week, my friends, I would like to invite you to find time each day to enter into the Kingdom, to stand at the threshold of the Gate of Heaven, and to experience the presence of God within your midst.
May it be so. Amen.