LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.
Jesus is speaking to you, from His own Gospel, saying,
“And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is
blaspheming.’”
Now, if I’m going to talk about Jacob’s Ladder today, we are
going to have to throw away some chaff first. One such piece, is the idea of a
corporate ladder, that we start at the bottom rung with low salary, low
expectations, but high potential. I mean, at the bottom the only direction you
can go is up, right?
The sad part is, this image is what most Christian teachers
give us of Jacob’s Ladder. That it is set up for us to ascend on it, like the
angels did. But we are no angels. Worse yet, they will smash Jesus in there and
say that He is the Ladder by which we ascend, essentially making Jesus into
nothing more than a stepping stone to our success.
The third interesting ladder image is the electronic version
of Jacob’s Ladder. It is a device that sets off an electric current between two
parallel, bare wires from bottom to top in a never ending ascent. We can also
see the corporate ladder as never ending and the “Jesus ladder” the same way.
Rung, after rung, after rung…
All of these are never ending ladders because all of them
continually demand something from you even if you have just given that same thing
or even if you are close to the top. You may step up one rung, but there will
always be another, with no end in sight. This is not the type of ladder that
Jacob sees.
In the Bible this is the only place something like this is
mentioned with this particular Hebrew word. The verb form of this word usually
is meant to be exalted or to build up. The Lord says to Pharaoh, “You are still exalting yourself against my
people and will not let them go.” ( Ex 9:17) Very much a negative use, but
can be positive as well as King David shows us: “Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him Who rides
through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him!” (Ps 68:4)
So it is something that is built up to enable ascent and as
the Lord pointed out, for descent as well. That part most teachers leave out.
Yes ladders are good for going up, but they are equally as good for going down.
But going up is the popular message, not coming down.
Yet, we don’t want the popular message. We want the truth.
The truth lies in what the Lord is doing with this ladder, because so far Jacob
is sleeping, inactive and only angels are using it and as we well know, we are
not angels, nor will we ever be.
The truth lies in the little preposition: “above”. The Lord
is not above the ladder, as most people suggest, but He is on the ladder. More
to the point He is being supported by the ladder. And if we are to take Jesus
at His word when He tells Nathaniel that “Truly,
truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man”, then we must conclude that
Jesus is on the cross.
This is what He meant when He spoke to Nathaniel. This is
what He meant when He revealed Himself to Jacob and Jacob is sleeping the sleep
of sin and death, while Jesus is doing the work.
Repent. You lean on your own understanding and as the
pillars of the Philistines palace rested upon the support beams Samson was
chained to, the Lord’s Prophet and Judge knocks it over, sending you to be
imprisoned by your sin.
You have leaned on oppression and guile and not trusted in
God’s Word (isa. 30:12) that He is consistent and relentless in His preaching
of Jesus. Because you would rather the Bible give you delusions of grandeur, “…this iniquity shall be to you
like a breach in a high wall, bulging out
and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an
instant;
and its breaking is
like that of a potter's vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its
fragments not a shard is found
with
which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
(Is. 30:13-14) Or like a ladder that is knocked down.
In returning and rest you shall be saved, says the Lord (Is.
30:15). It is exactly in the paralytic in today’s Gospel that we see this
returning and rest. He returns, but involuntarily so. Friends must force him to
get out, must force him through the crowds, and must force him to Jesus.
And what does Jesus do? Does He boost him up to the top rung
of the ladder? Does He give the paralytic the energy and motivation to make it
to the top? Or does He tell him to go home?
Jesus speaks to this man the Word, the word of forgiveness
and mercy from God. The same God that sets up this impossible ladder.
Impossible because we are not on it, we can not use it, and we can’t see it.
Even Jacob misses his opportunity and he was right there.
The ladder and the vision were only there for one reason and
it is the same reason that this paralytic heard Jesus and was forgiven. In the
gospel of St. Mark, he also describes this scene, but the friends have to work
a little harder. They need to go to the roof of the house Jesus is in and lower
their friend down from the roof to where Jesus is.
Did you get that? The vision and the Word are here because
Jesus is not at the top of the ladder, but at the bottom. The angels may be
moving up and down this ladder, but it is only in service to the one upon it.
The One Who is being crucified upon it.
Jesus descends from heaven to give Jacob the vision and
stays there. Jacob gets it, because he immediately wakes up and builds a mini Temple
This is shown in the same way to Jacob’s descendants in
Jesus’ time. God descends into the virgin’s womb and ascends the cross. When
that wooden structure is set up on earth, the Lord is placed upon it to suffer
and die for the sins of the world.
You may climb Jacob’s ladder if you wish, but you will only
find death there, death by crucifixion. For it is the never-ending demand of
the Law that commands perfection ,but doesn’t give it. That demands ascent, but
only paralyzes. That demands mercy, but only gets sacrifices.
Jesus has climbed the ladder and paralyzed Himself upon it,
for you. He has clung to the cross in order that not only angels may come and
go from heaven, but also His Holy Spirit so that all the gifts He purchase and
won there would be freely distributed to you.
“In that day the
remnant of Israel and the
survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but
will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel
In the rest that the cross provides, and the return that
baptism gives, we find salvation. Not because we looked for it, but because it
was brought down to us from heaven and the preachers of this forgiveness
lowered us down in the paralysis of our sins, into the Divine Service so that
the Lord could serve us His salvation.
The Church that Jesus has suffered and died for is at the
bottom of the ladder. The Holy Spirit, Who is handing out the gifts of Jesus,
to the Church, is at the bottom of the ladder and we all sit, praising the One
Who is supported by the ladder, because He died upon it to give such great
gifts of forgiveness to men, through His crucifixion and resurrection.
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