By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

This story is one about honor.  We will recall that Jacob’s sight was failing when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, and that when Joseph brought his sons before the patriarch for him to pronounce the blessing, placing Manasseh to Jacob’s right as the oldest son and Ephraim to Jacob’s left as the youngest son, Jacob intentionally moved his right hand to Ephraim’s head to bestow the blessing of greater honor that was meant for the firstborn.  The account of Scripture goes to some pains to tell us exactly how all this transpired because it is important to realize that honor comes from God.  It is given to those he chooses, it is conferred for his purposes, and it will not be gainsaid by the wisdom of this world.  Not to the swift is the race, nor is the battle to the strong; and so it has always been in God’s kingdom.

The scene of Jacob and Joseph is reminiscent of the one in the New Testament where James and John asked to be granted the right to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand in glory.  And we can feel the tension in the air as Jesus hesitates and at last responds, “You don’t know what you’re asking!”  I do not believe it was because he thought them overly ambitious that their request gave him pause.  Honor from God’s hand comes accompanied by great pain and sorrow, because it is given to people living in a fallen world.  For Jesus the spotless Lamb of God this meant a life of incredible suffering and unrequited (in the short term) labor, cut short at the end by a criminal’s death.  For you and I, who are men/women of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips, it is simply too much.  Like James and John, we have no concept of the burden that comes with greatness in the kingdom of God.  It was not merely of morality that Paul spoke when he said that God would not let us be tempted beyond what we could bear.  There are degrees of honor that would undo us, for we have not been called to receive them.

This is a hard one for me.  Accomplishment and reward are concepts that are very central to who I am.  I have lost count of the endeavors I have taken on in life simply because people said it couldn’t be done.  Passion, drive, innovation, networking, and many hours of hard work can overcome any obstacle – or so I tell myself.  Honor is something that you need only reach out your hand and take hold of – or so I tell myself.  Success could be anyone’s if they only wanted it bad enough – or so I tell myself.  The truth is that these characteristics of how God made me are a gift from his hand, as ultimately are my circumstances and successes too, and I am left with the all-important questions of life to answer on Judgment Day: “What did you do with what I gave you?  Did you live your life to impress people and reap all the rewards, or did you spend and be spent for the souls of men?  Were you simply a pretty good guy, or were you truly holy?”  (I love the distinction Rick made between the two ideas in his sermon today)  And the answer to these questions is to be found in our relationship with Christ.

For it is only the Lord Jesus who in heaven and on earth was found worthy to open the scroll and to look into it.  It was only he who was able to live a life that met the standard of the Law of God, that fulfilled the prophecies of what the Son of Man would do for his people, that prepared him for what the Throne of David was meant to be, that brought the blessing of life to the nations as God promised to Abraham.  It was because of who he is that he was worthy to take his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

If we would partake of this glory, then, we must find our identity in him.  The implications of this statement, conciliatory though it seems compared to making our own way in the universe, are enough to topple the highest tower of conceit and self-reliance that may be built by man.  The way of Christ is a difficult one.  We are not of the tribe of Manasseh, that we might forget all our hardship and all our Father’s house; but we are called by the name of Ephraim, and it is in the land of our affliction that we will find fruitfulness.  And by that affliction we will be reminded that we are not our own, that we were bought at a price; and we will surely come triumphant through struggles and temptations that not even a sinless man (the first Adam) could overcome, but only a Righteous Man.  We must decrease and he must increase, for his glory yes, but also for our very survival.

Honor begins to take on a different meaning for the Christian after we have walked with God awhile.  I have a friend who has one of the greatest minds of anyone I’ve ever met, who cares more deeply about people than I ever will, who is gifted in so many ways that it’s disgusting, who labors in relative obscurity for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom, who is going through sorrows under which I am sure my faith would have crumbled by now, and who is beginning to realize what it is to drink of the cup from which Christ drank (not to its dregs: just a sip of it).  God calls great men to his service, but it is a terrible burden they bear, for in their greatness they must show forth the glory of Christ that much more than the rest of us, and they must suffer greater things for the sake of his name.  It is enough for me that I am honored to be a doorkeeper in the house of God, and that when I hear the Lord say to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet,” I know that in Christ those words are for me.

Author: Jeremy Vogan

My name is Jeremy Vogan. I live in Staunton, VA with my wife and four kids. I love to write, and seek to honestly explore the intellectual and emotional implications of following Jesus as a deeply broken person in a twisted, cruel world that is full of veiled beauty and meaning. Writing is part of how I faithfully look for Jesus Christ to someday make all things new. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback! JV