The Lamp Stand

Jacob’s Ladder brings to mind many images among the public today. Some first think of a classic child’s toy that changes images when it shifts. Others first think of an exercise machine, a ladder that you forever climb and reach no destination. Still others think of a famous carnival game, a type of rope-ladder, which is hung low and parallel to the ground that you must balance carefully in order to reach the end and receive a prize, or else fall off and land on an inflatable cushioned mat.

One thing all three of these images have in common is that there is some sort of trick or gimmick.

Very few first think of the song, Nearer my God to Thee, likely because we first associate this song with The Titanic. And yet, the very lyrics of the song are directly from the original story of Jacob’s Ladder as written in Genesis, where Jacob has a vision while sleeping. In his dream, Jacob sees a ladder, or more accurately translated in more recent scholarship, a stairway, one that connects heaven and earth with a passage-way that angels ascend and descend on their travels between the realms.

Jacob, which means supplanter of the flesh, was on his way to a far away land in search of a wife who was not of the Canaanite tribe, at the request of his mother Rebekah and command of his father Issac. He had just received his father’s blessing, which was intended for Esau, but he now carries the blessing that follows the line of Abraham, Noah, and Seth, Adam’s third son as his first (Abel) was murdered by his second (Cain), who God cursed for his murderous deed.

The blessing Jacob receives carries God’s covenantal promise first made to Adam and reaffirmed in Noah and Abraham, that God would restore humanity from our fallen state. Esau went to Ishmael to marry a Canaanite woman to spite his father. Jacob’s line gives us Christ through the line of David. Esau’s line gives us Mohammed and this strife continues to this day.

What did Jacob see in his vision:

“A stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it. And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing. I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.”

This stairway likely would have borrowed images from the tower of babel, a very large and winding stair way, and the many steps represent the line of decedents as promised in Jacob’s dream, the many decedents in the ancestry line to David and ultimately to Christ. God’s covenantal promise is again reaffirmed with Jacob that Abraham’s decedents would be more than a chosen people, but restore the inheritance of humanity to the whole world.

Yet, early mistranslations have deeply engrained Jacob’s vision as that of a ladder and this has become deeply rooted in our culture.

Jacob saw in his sleep a ladder lifted up and standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; the angels also of God ascending and descending by it, and the Lord leaning upon the ladder. [Gen 28.12-13] Douay Translation, based on the Vulgate.

The Word is truly a living word and one inspired by the Holy Sprit who teaches us through tradition as much, or even more so, than through the written word. For the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth.

Jacob’s Ladder is a vision of Christ – Alleluia !!!

Who connects heaven and earth but Christ himself? Who is it that the Lord Our Father preannounces to the world a savior through the prophets? A God that intends to send a savior to redeem the whole world would out of courtesy tell us how to identify him when he comes.  

And tradition gives us the beautiful image of Christ as a ladder connecting heaven and earth. This ladder has two sides and six rungs by which to climb. The six rungs are held together by His divine and human nature.

The first two rungs are his legs, for how else would Christ walk but in poverty and humility? He was humble when he took our nature looking upon the humility of his handmaid. He was poor in his birth, where the poor virgin bore the very Son of God having no-where to lie down, he first rested in a manger, a trough from which animals eat.

The third rung, wisdom, lies in his torso. Our instincts have a gut feeling and wisdom knows how best to use the passions of the heart in proper proportion. The Lord was wise, for he began to do and to teach [Acts 1.1].

The fourth and fifth rungs are his arms, for Our Lord’s works are of mercy and done with great patience, just as we often steady our right hand with our left. The Lord was merciful in his treatment of sinners and he did not come for the righteous but for the sick. With great patience he bore sufferings. As spoken by Christ through the prophet Isaiah, I have set my face like a flint. When a stone is struck it does not strike back, nor murmur against whoever breaks it.

The six rung is the Lord’s head, whose obedience supplants the flesh. He was made obedient even to death, death on a cross.

This is the ladder that stood on the earth, preaching and performing miracles. This is the ladder that touched heaven. He spent nights alone on mountain tops in prayer to God, transfigured on the mountain in front of his apostles, and ascended into heaven.

This is the ladder that has been setup for us, so why would we not climb?  Why do we crawl about the earth with worms among the dung doing violence to one another and trampling on the feelings of those about us, wasting time as though we have a million years and always at the mercy of our own self-centered passions?

Climb! Climb the ladder set for you. Jacob saw angles going up and down the ladder. Go, you angles and prelates of the church. Ascend and contemplate how sweet the lord is. Descend and mend to your neighbor. Do you think you can reach the heights of heaven by any other means? Do you think there is another way than by the Ladder of humility, poverty, and the Lord’s passion? Indeed, there is not!

Where all other ladders are filled with tricks and gimmicks, I’ll tell you a secret. Where you misstep, and when you can’t find a rung on the ladder or lose your balance, cling to the sides of Christ, for in his very nature he will steady you again until find yourself in union with The Lord. Do not be afraid, because the Lord himself is leaning on this ladder, waiting to receive those who climb.

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This reflection paraphrases St. Anthony’s teaching from one of his homilies in his great work Sermons for Sundays and Festivals. Parts are taken word for word, but I’ve taken great liberties with the text, which is how he intended his work to be used.