Jacob’s Arrival in Haran – Held on Sunday, April 28, 2013

Personal Note on Posting Timeline

Sunday, May 5^th is our last session for this school year.  We will meet to discuss Evangelization at my place on Thursday, June 13^th from 7:00 to 8:30 pm.

Review:

In preparation for our discussion on Evangelization I argued that there has been a growing tension, if not alienation, between the Catholic Church and the Modern World which has a near 800 year history.  I then listed the major Western dislocations that have occurred.

1. The Renaissance and Reformation – moving to separate throne and altar
2. The Scientific Revolution – totally revolutionizing our very understanding of the natural world and universe in which we live
3. The French Revolution – radically changing the very notion of government and the world of politics
4. The German Historical Mindedness – introducing critical thought into human studies, philosophy, and theology; changing how we understand the very Bible of people of faith.

This historical overview allowed me to remark on what Annette, Heber and Mark had to say in our session held on Sunday, April 21^st.  I had stated the obvious that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection did not change the natural world in any way.  Yet something was radically different on earth afterwards for the believer.  What is that difference was the question I had asked.  Annette responded that it was an awareness, something that happens in us.  The difference can most easily be understood as a change in meaning.  But there is a problem; meaning is shaped by our worldview, by what we are before we understand something.  The problem exists if our worldview and the world as it actually is don’t mesh.

Heber and Mark identified the problem and its nature.  Heber said that in his opinion the ladder in the story of Jacob’s dream was why we think heaven is up, the ladder goes up.  In the story, however, the messengers on the ladder were going up and down.  And God wasn’t presented as even being on the ladder.  No, God was standing by Jacob’s side.  Heber’s remarks reveals the difficulty in hearing more than what our worldview will allow us to hear.

A clue to the reason for this was given by Mark.  He stated that he grew up with an Italian father and a Lutheran mother.  He was taught that heaven was up and, most telling, not to believe anyone who said anything different.

The problem with “heaven” is not the word but its meaning.  It is not an astronomical term; it is theological one.  To the extent that “heaven” distracts us from the coming of the Kingdom it doesn’t mesh with the actual world. To argue the case, I went on to offer a different take on the basic Christian message than one of “going to heaven. ”

1. Jesus taught us one prayer in which we pray
   1. Our Father– so I leave you with a question, who is the “our.”  Only followers of Jesus?  Well yes and no.  Maybe only Christian pray the Our Father but Jesus’ Father is the Father of all human beings, period.
   2. Who are in heaven – is “heaven” in this prayer an astronomical term? Not really, “heaven” simply means that God is beyond us, in theological terms, transcendent. God is a spirit and is not in space or time; space and time are in God.
   3. Thy Kingdom Come – God’s kingdom [reign] is a presence coming to us, all the time, is at hand, etc.  We aren’t going to it; it is a presence wherever we are. The Christian scripture is filled with images attempting to help us become aware of the presence of God’s reign in our life on this earth.
   4. We all die and our bodies will return to dust.  Yes that is true.  We are not mere bodies though.  We are also immaterial and because of that we too in our death will be neither in space nor time.  However, we also believe in the resurrection of the body, on the last day.  More on this later.
   5. At every mass, if we attend to the Eucharistic Prayer, we can recognize that the prayer is addressed to the Father.  At every mass, in that Eucharistic prayer we pray in Christ, through Christ, and with Christ.  Those prepositional phrases define a relationship that is enriching of our spiritual life.

Background: Gen. 29: 01 – 30: Jacob’s Arrival at Haran,

Walter Brueggemann, in Genesis Interpretation, offers an outline of this literary unit running from 29:01 – 31:55, see p. 249

29: 01 – 04: – preliminary meeting – a kiss of meeting

29: 14 – 20: – meeting with Laban and the contact

29: 21 – 30: – deception of Jacob by Laban

29: 31 – 30: 24: – The Offspring

30: 25 – 43: – trick of Laban by Jacob

                                                     [31: 01 – 16: – a theological reflection]

31: 17 – 42: – meeting with Laban and dispute

31: 43 – 55: – covenant and departure – a kiss of departure

From Brueggemann’s outline, it is easier to recognize that “The Offspring” is the central focus of the literary unit as a whole.  It probably represents an independent unit that may well have been an amalgam of authors expressing interests and perspective from both the North and the South.

The Reading: Gen. 29: 01 – 30. http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/29.

Vv. 01 – 04: – These few verses simply set a context of journey for the whole unit.  Like his father, Isaac, before him, Jacob is to go to Haran.  There to find a wife and produce offspring out of which the promise will continue.  The characters are Jacob and shepherds overseeing three droves of sheep.  Jacob berates the shepherds for their poor work ethic.  The huge stone over the well plays a bit of a role for Jacob in the next seen.

Vv. 05 – 20: – Ken remarked that Jacob single handily removing the stone over the well might symbolize his “miraculous” powers.  It definitely was meant to impress Rachael.  The initial meeting with Laban seems friendly enough but first impressions are deceiving.  Laban doesn’t want Jacob to work for free; Jacob asks for his younger daughter as payment for seven years of service.  They both seem to agree but Laban can’t be trusted.  Seven years later, and the morning after the wedding feast, Jacob awakes to the fact that he has been duped.  But what comes around goes around and Jacob intends to get even.  But that’s for next week maybe.

Ken found this passage comforting in an odd way.  The passage reveals God working with characters that are less than honorable.  They seem to be more like us than we might like to admit. This fact was comforting, gives us hope.  Ken also pointed out that God seems more to nudge persons than to overwhelm them with his presence.  His observations appealed to me so I thought I would ask the rest of the group what they thought of Ken’s perspective.  But try as I might, no one really expressed an opinion one way or the other.

It seems that Jacob is presented sometimes as a person without much uprightness – deceiving his brother and his father and sometimes as a person with character – his willingness to live up to his contract with Laban even though he had been duped. This inconsistency in Jacob’s character raised a question of maturity.  I wondered when do we [in our modern age] reach maturity.  Ken though that there were different levels of maturity seemingly over ten year periods or spans of time in our life.  Tim thought we should define maturity first then we would be in a better position to identify the age of those who reach it.  Roseann thought that maturity was a function of responsibility. Carol agreed with her.  Kai concluded our conversation by making two observations.  He didn’t think responsibilities were a function of maturity so much as one’s response to the responsibilities that come our way.  Secondly, since the prefrontal lobe is not fully developed until age 24 or 25, he thought that would be the age at which maturity would begin.

Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.  See “comment” link below