Today I have some good news and some bad news, and it is all the same news. It is the news about God and God's dealing with us that can be discovered in the first few stories about Jacob.

I suppose most of us know at least some of the stories about Jacob. He was the second born son of Isaac and Rebekah. Before he was born, God had told Rebekah that of the twins wrestling in her womb, the son who was born first would serve the son who was born second. Now, that went against both the social customs and the human laws of that time. The eldest son was supposed to be in charge.

What was God saying? Was he ignoring the customs, traditions, rules and laws the people had so painstakingly developed across the generations? Was God trying to upset the order of that society and undo the laws? Wasn't God supposed to be for law and order? Or is it that our human laws and customs sometimes get in the way of God's will?

Jacob came out of the womb, clinging to his brother Esau's heel. That is why they named in Jacob, which means something like "Grasping" or "Grabbing." And he lived up (or down) to his name. When he was a young man, he pulled a fast deal, taking advantage of his brother to obtain his brother's birthright. Later—with his mother's urging and coaching—this grasping, grabbing Jacob committed fraud and tricked his own father into giving him the blessing that designated him as the leader of the family. In other words, Jacob intentionally planned and carried out the plan to steal what the laws and customs of that society said really belonged to his older brother.

Little wonder his older brother vowed to kill Jacob just as soon as their father died, and their father was near death at the time. Again with his mother's urging, Jacob fled; he ran away to his mother's brother to escape being killed by Esau.

It is at this point in the story that we come to the passage that was read today. At one of the places where Jacob made camp for the night, he had a dream about a ladder or long ramp that reached from earth to heaven. Angels—that is, messengers of God—were coming and going on this ramp. Suddenly, Jacob was aware God was at his side. When God spoke to Jacob, God made the same promises to Jacob that God had made to Jacob's grandfather, Abraham. God promised Jacob descendants (a future). God promised him land (a place in life). And God promised Jacob that he would be a blessing to all nations (his life would make a difference). This is what God promised this scheming, lying, stealing rascal who was running for his life to hide at Uncle Laban's house.

When we are feeling good about ourselves, proud of our accomplishments, and see ourselves as good, decent people who obey laws, pay taxes and even give to charities, the story about Jacob can be a disturbing story, because whatever else we discover in the stories about Jacob, we are confronted with the tough to swallow news that God does not play by the rules we humans have set up. God and the activities of God do not fit in any of the boxes we humans design or in any of the pastures we carefully fence in.

"Of course, I am not perfect," we will say. "I have my faults, but I am not like those folks. I have not stolen. I have not murdered. I have not committed adultery. I have put in a day's labor for a day's pay. I have carried my share of the load. What do you mean God's grace reaches out even to rascals who lie, cheat and steal even from their own brothers?" The story of Jacob can be disturbing.

It is not that we are hard hearted. We just want God to play fair by the rules as we understand them. Jacob ought to at least be showing remorse. There ought to be some evidence that what is moving him through life is something more than greed and fear. We do not mind God forgiving obviously sinful people; it is just that we want them to feel bad, to suffer the anguish of deep regret, to promise honestly and sincerely to change their way of living, and to beg for forgiveness. Then, under those conditions of earnest remorse, we who take pride in being good people are willing to concede it is okay for God to be merciful.

But that is not the way it is in the Jacob story we read. Jacob did not express any remorse. He was frightened but not repentant. What God did is upsetting to any of us good, decent, basically moral people. This is as difficult for us to handle as it was for the very religious people in Jesus' day to understand and appreciate Jesus' association with obvious sinners and social outcasts.

Whatever else the stories about Jacob have to tell us, they dramatize very clearly that God is not like we are. God's way is God's way—not our way. God's way of dealing with us humans is not limited by our human opinions about justice or by our human definitions of right and wrong, good and bad. God refuses to fit in any of the boxes we humans have carefully and clearly defined. God is not contained within even the largest pasture we humans can fence in. God's way of moving in history toward the redemption of the world is God's way. And God's way is not even limited to our best religious definition of God's way.

Of course, if we have ever been in Jacob's sandals, we are grateful that God refuses to be contained or to allow his grace to be contained in human-made boxes and fenced-in pastures. If we have ever had a son or daughter who has been anything like Jacob or the prodigal son Jesus talked about, we are grateful that the merciful grace of God is not limited only to those who are acceptable to the well-behaved, nice people of this world.

If any of us or any of the persons we dearly love have been anything like Jacob, we are grateful God does not wait until we are worthy to be active in our lives, moving us toward becoming the persons God intends us to be.

When we do not feel good about ourselves, when we are painfully aware of how both our doing wrong and our failing to do good has made a mess of our lives and the relationships most dear to us, it is somewhat comforting to discover in the stories about the rascal Jacob that God does not play by human rules and that God's grace cannot be limited to any of the boxes we humans construct, or contained in any of the pastures we fence in.

Struggling with stories like the stories about Jacob, it is relatively easy to see how the Book of Genesis was probably one of the primary books of theology in Jesus' education and preparation for ministry. There is a clear connection between God's grace being offered to Jacob while he was still a rascal on the run and the ministries of Christ being offered to us while we are yet sinners. God did not wait and God does not wait until we are worthy to declare to us that, by God's grace, we have a place in life, we have a future, and that by the grace of God, regardless of our past, our lives can still make a difference.

These promises offered to the rascal Jacob are part of what is offered to each of us today as we come to receive this sacrament. Whether we are ready for it or not, whether we really believe it or not, God's grace, which does not fit into any of our human boxes, is available. God does not wait until we are worthy. God does not wait until we fully understand. God does not even wait until we really believe. Ready or not, believe it or not, whether we are obviously rascals like Jacob or less obvious sinners like the very religious people in Jesus' day, God reaches out to each of us, making promises to each of us not unlike those God made to Jacob.

God, as we receive this sacrament, help us to be involved in more than familiar religious ritual. Make us sensitive to your grace that is not limited by any lines we draw. Enable us to allow ourselves to be embraced by your grace and transformed by your grace so that the promises you have made will be fulfilled in the living our lives. Amen.

PASTORAL PRAYER:

O God, we thank you for those whose labor provides us food and clothing and shelter. We thank you for those who labor to provide us not only with the education we need to earn a wage, but with an education that teaches us to think. For all those persons whose labor expands the boundaries of human knowledge and for those whose labor in the arts expands our sensitivity, we are grateful. We give you thanks for those whose labor brings us laughter and entertainment and we thank you for those who labor to keep society safe from harm and for all who work to change what is wrong, to preserve what is right and to make justice possible for all persons. We are grateful for those who work to bring healing to body and mind, and for those who labor to bring healing in relationships. We thank you for those who labor to keep garbage from burying us, for those who do the essential work of cleaning that protects us from disease. For all those who are willing to carry the burdens that come with trying to serve the public and whose labor contributes to our well-being and the well being of our society, we give you thanks. For all those whose labor serves us in some way, we are grateful.

All this we pray in the awareness of Christ and his labors of love on our behalf. Amen.