“Come on up!” God shouted to Jacob
as S/He revealed the ladder,
which had of course, always been there
But Jacob stepped back
noticing
that the angels climbing all over it
went down, and not just up.
Midrash records Jacob’s thinking.
He tells God: If I come up, I might also
come back down
What does he mean?
I wonder
Perhaps it would be too painful?
Getting to be close to God and all that perfection
“up there”
and having to return to this land of brokenness, pain and
hardship?
Or perhaps Jacob knows he’s not yet ready;
that his work on the ground,
as it were,
is not yet complete.
Going up, might only delay his growth,
defer his destiny.
Maybe it would be better to wait?
I wonder
Should God ever invite me on up,
would I, too, step back –
unsure?
Or would I jump right on and start climbing?
Surely even a few moments “up there”
would be worth having to come back down
to Earth?
If Jacob had spent time in God’s presence,
would he,
like Moses,
have come down with face shining?
Would he, perhaps have come down inspired?
Renewed?
Might he have made less mistakes?
Wasted less time?
Imagine! Letting your mother tell you what to do
but refusing an invitation from God
It’s almost too Jewish
It’s almost too devastating
What would this world be
if we accepted God’s calling card more often
instead of stepping back
into our own pools of self-doubt
and uncertainty?
