Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
“Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.””
Overview
“Today is the feast of St Michael and All Angels. Angels are God’s messengers and in both of our readings this morning they move between heaven and earth.
Jacob dreams of them going up and down a ladder in Genesis 28:10-17 and, although God promises to be with him wherever he goes, Jacob believes that the gate of heaven is in this particular place.
However, when Jesus meets Nathaniel in John 1:47-51, he describes himself as the ladder joining heaven and earth. The place where heaven and earth meet is not a holy place as envisaged by Jacob but is a living, breathing human being.
God meets us wherever we are; seeking us out even in the most lowly of circumstances and offering to raise us up when we are broken and cast down. Wherever we find ourselves, Christ invites us to become like ladders through which God can reach out to those who have been brought low and raise them up into God’s presence.
We are the place where God chooses to dwell on earth as in heaven.
FIRST READING
Genesis 28:10-17
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
GOSPEL
John 1:47-51
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
