The Rev. William Klock: “A Redeemed Life” (Genesis 49:33-50:14)

From the Rev. William Klock of Christ Church REC in Oregon, we have another in his series of sermons on the Book of Genesis, A Redeemed Life.  This sermon is on Genesis 49:33-50:14, which is, as Fr. Klock notes, sort of an epitaph for Jacob, the last of the patriarchs.  And Fr. Klock here ably addresses something I had not really thought about: why is Jacob the subject of so much of the Book of Genesis?

None of the other great saints of Genesis has this much space devoted to his death, but with Jacob the story is slowed to just barely a crawl as all the details are given over these last two-and-half chapters.  But it’s fitting, since half the book of Genesis is devoted to this man.  I find myself asking, Why Jacob?  Why is he so prominent in Genesis, when we have better examples not only of faith, but upright and holy living in Abraham or Joseph?  God’s given us the story the way he wants us to have it, and I’m convinced that the reason that Jacob is so prominent in it is because he’s so much like us.  We can look up to the great models we see in Abraham and Joseph – and they’re not presented as plaster saints either – they had their problems too – but Jacob is the one guy in Genesis whom I think we can all look at and see at least a little bit – probably more like a lot – of ourselves in him.  I haven’t met many Christians who would get up and leave land and family to follow an unknown God like Abraham did.  I don’t know many Christians who experiences the trials of life with the faith-inspired optimism that Joseph did.  But I know a lot of Christians, myself included, who hear the promises of God and get distracted from them by life, who hear the assurances of God, and yet go off to make good things happen on their own initiative, and who fear the unknown and sometimes forget that God is always there to fight for us no matter how bad things get.  That’s why I think Jacob’s so prominent here.  There were far worse sinning saints in the Bible.  David was an adulterer and a murderer and yet God still described him as man after his own heart.  But Jacob is in so many ways an ordinary saint, who struggled in the same ways that the rest of us ordinary saints do.  As I’ve said before, Jacob gives us hope.  Just as we can see ourselves in all of his ups and down, the fact that he died in the assurance of God’s promise and was honoured for what everyone else saw as an exemplary life gives us hope that God’s grace can do the same in our lives through the faith he first gave to those patriarchs and has now given to us.  Jacob is someone with whom we can pray, “Lord help my unbelief.”

As Fr. Klock has made so clear in these sermons, the grace of God is seen throughout the life of Jacob (and for that matter, the Book of Genesis).  I find it interesting that Jacob is indeed seen as having lived an exemplary life in the final analysis–if you recall how he comes across in the accounts of the early years of his life, the continued growth in his sanctification could have only been by the grace of God.  But he still had to strive to actively obey God–as do we all.  May God help each of us to strive to obey Him, that we might give hope to others by our own witness.  This is another sermon worth reading or hearing!