In Genesis 29, the patriarch Jacob rolls a stone away. It’s a foreshadowing of Easter morning in multiple ways.
- As an ancestor
Jacob is an ancestor of Jesus. Reading forwards, the lives of Jesus’ forebears signpost him, and reading backwards, the cross can be seen throughout Messiah’s family tree.
2. As an act of heroic strength.
“The stone at the well’s mouth was large” (29:2) we are told. Presumably the well was managed as a co-operative between a group of shepherd communities, and the large stone was placed there as an impediment to outsiders. It was only rolled away when everyone was gathered so as to ensure equitable use of the water. Possibly, the “we cannot” that the shepherds articulate in verse 8 is to do with physical strength – “we cannot.” Only when everyone is gathered can they together with their combined strength roll away the stone from the mouth of the well. Jacob was either Herculean in strength or else supernaturally helped.
In the same way, the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb was impossibly large – representing the “we cannot” of all nations regarding death. We cannot overcome death. We cannot get past this impossible hurdle. We cannot roll the stone away – but Jesus can! In a feat of heroic, supernatural strength Jesus rolls away the stone of death, the impossibly large spectre overshadowing all nations.
3. As a gift of outsiderness
Jacob has turned up as an outsider – fleeing for his life from sibling anger – a vulnerable individual who has undergone a harrowing journey to a foreign land. The shepherds seem to be stuck in their tradition, the “we cannot” of the way things have always been, a received protocol and an established status quo. Jacob, as the outsider with fresh perspective, challenges the status quo and demonstrates a different way.
Jesus, too, comes with the gift of outsiderness, to a humanity imprisoned within the routines of sin and death. All cultures, every culture, has its taboos, its arrangements, its “we cannots.” Jesus refuses to accept the existing status quo, the undefeated 100% record of death. He comes to open up a new way, a different way. His outsiderness brings fresh perspective, new opportunities, an independence from the captivities of each and every cultural moment.
4. As a bridegroom
Boy-meets-girl at a well is a well-established type scene in the Scripture. Within this common trope, a boy travels from a far away land, and meets a girl at a well. One of them draws water. The family are informed and receive the news with joy, and there is a meal. There is a betrothal. This happens when Isaac meets Rebekah, when Moses meets Zipporah, as well as here, when Jacob meets the love of his life, Rachel.
In this story, the shepherds have told Jacob it is impossible to roll away the stone and water the flocks. In the next verse (29:9), Rachel walks into the scene and into his life. His immediate response is to roll the stone away – maybe to show off in front of her, maybe because he drew strength from his instant love for her. This action is followed by Jacob kissing Rachel, and being introduced to her family.
In the New Testament, Jesus re-enacts this tradition with the woman at the well in John 4. Symbolically, metaphorically, the Bridegroom is searching for his Bride – the Church, in a far country, by a well.
Jacob rolls the stone away, and wins a bride. His love for his bride gives him the strength to roll away the stone. How much more so with Jesus! In John’s gospel, the first word that Jesus speaks after the “it is finished” of Friday is “woman, why are you crying?” on Sunday morning. The Bridegroom’s first word is for his bride – “woman”. The reason he died is for her. The motivation for rising again was her – “Christ, who loved the church and gave himself up for her,” says Ephesians.
Like Jacob, Christ is energised by love to do the impossible. He’s had a glimpse of his bride – he’s only seen her from a distance – but its enough to move him to roll away the stone for her. And after this feat – a wedding!
5. As a shepherd
Jacob’s initial concern is to “water the sheep and go, pasture them” (29:7). His purpose in rolling the stone away from the mouth of the well is to water the thirsty flocks. His instinct, as a shepherd, is for the flocks. Rachel, we are told, was a shepherdess. Jacob will spend the next 20 years with Laban learning how to become an extremely skilful and successful shepherd.
In the same way, Christ rolls the stone away as a shepherd. His concern is for his sheep. His concern is to make the living water available to his thirsty flock. The resurrection of Christ opens the way for the gift of the Spirit – the living water that rushes forth from heaven once the stone is rolled away, satisfying his sheep.
6. As a fruitful father
Jacob’s rolling away of the stone triggers his marriage with Rachel, which will lead to his fathering many children. Indeed, wells in Scripture are a symbol of fruitfulness and abundance – imagine the lush green growth around an oasis in an otherwise dry and barren landscape. His strength and initiative make him an ideal father – a provider, a problem-solver, a stone-roller-awayer.
Indeed, in many ways this stone blocking the well represents Rachel’s later barrenness, the great blockage in her womb preventing her fruitfulness. And yet, just as Jacob opened the well, so God will open Rachel’s womb, and she will become a mother in Israel.
In the same way. Christ and his bride will bring forth many descendants. Romans 7 describes us as a barren bride who, thanks to the resurrection of Christ from the dead, can now bear fruit for God (Rom 7:4). Jesus rolled away the curse, releasing with a rush the life-giving Holy Spirit, ushering in a verdant, fruitful life. See the life-giving water, kept behind the stone, which is suddenly released into the world once the stone is removed, a reiver bringing fruitfulness wherever it goes.
7. Mark’s gospel
Finally, Mark’s gospel explicitly picks up the idea of the stone being large and impossible to roll away.
Mark 16:3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
Mark 16:4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
Much of Mark’s Greek here corresponds uniquely with the Greek version of Genesis 29 (the Septuagint). The idea of a “large stone” (lithos megas) corresponds with Gen 29:2. And apokulio (roll away) appears uniquely in the Old Testament in Genesis 29.
The women walking to the tomb were wondering how they would get access. Just like Rachel, there was a need for a hero of miraculous strength who could roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb and release its blessing and its goodness into the world.
Friends, let us reflect this Easter on the One who has rolled away the stone – Christ descended from the family tree of Abraham, who in an act of supreme strength, through the gift of outsiderness, has done the impossible, winning for himself a bride, watering his thirsty flock, and ushering in fruitfulness among his many, many descendants.
Our God’s still rolling stones away!
Happy Easter.
