What did it mean? He was tired and exhausted as he placed stone upon stone to form a pillar. A lifetime of deceit and the last few days of flight had drained him of his strength. And then the dream. What did it mean?

Try as he might he couldn’t answer it. But the experience changed him forever. He poured oil on the stones and made a vow before God. This done, with a faint smile he sat beside the pillar, filled with a sense of peace he had never experienced nor could explain. His mind went back to the dream…

A ladder! He could see the foot of it not ten feet away but where was the top? He almost sprained his neck trying to see where it led. It seemed almost unending; reaching far beyond the clouds. He stared amazed at the sight.

His amazement grew as he saw thousands of radiant beings appear on the ladder. Some were ascending it while others were descending. Still others sat on the rungs of the ladder. All- or so it seemed- were singing. Such heavenly music! Their voices were filled with joy. And anticipation as if they were expecting the arrival of someone important. They were.

With the sound of trumpets One appeared at the top of the ladder. The One was more radiant than all the others put together. The radiance of the One would have made the sun seem a distant star had it been day.

The radiant beings fell on their knees in adoration and worship never ceasing to sing their song. Then the One started to speak and the radiant beings stopped singing to listen. It seemed as if the heavens and all Creation paused to pay heed to the One.

The One introduced Oneself as the God of his grandfather. God! All his life he had been lying to and deceiving people. He had never spent time listening to his grandfather or his father. They told stories about meeting God and being blest by Him. To him these stories were too fanciful; the inventions of greying heads and weak minds. And now?

Their stories seemed to be true as he was confronted by the very God they spoke so highly of. He thought he had been fleeing from his brother. Now it seemed he was actually fleeing God, unwilling to grasp the gift of the promise given to his grandfather. Nevertheless, God had found him. It was time to listen.

The One confirmed the promises made to his grandfather and father. He promised to give the land to his descendants. And He promised blessings to the whole earth through one of his descendants in particular.

He didn’t understand everything the One told him. In fact most of it was beyond his comprehension. And he wanted much of it clarified. He knew he could get all the answers from the One.

As He started to speak, he saw the radiant beings ascend the ladder. He wanted to go with them and be in the Presence of the One. He tried climbing the ladder but found that he couldn’t. It was as if an invisible hand stopped his progress. He asked one of the radiant beings why he couldn’t climb the ladder.

“The ladder isn’t open to you now or to all humanity. But soon it will be opened.”, came the answer.

“When?”, he shouted into the dawn as he woke up.

More than a millennium later his question was answered. Answered when on a hill outside Jerusalem, a carpenter’s Son cried, “It is finished!”

A cry of victory, not defeat. One that invites everyone to approach the ladder, see that it has been opened. And climb.

(Written on Wednesday, 1 February 1995)