During the night he got up, got his
two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and got them safely
across the Jabbok brook, together with all his possessions. Jacob stayed behind
by himself, and a man appeared and wrestled with him until daybreak. When the
man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately
threw Jacob’s hip out of joint. The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.” Jacob
said, “I’m not letting you go until you bless me.” The man said, “What’s
your name?” He answered, “Jacob.” The man replied “Your name is no longer
Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and
you’ve come through.” Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?”
The man said, “Why do you want to
know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the
place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived
to tell the story!” The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of
his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don’t eat the hip muscle; because
Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint.) (Genesis 32:22-32)
**********************************************************
When I was in seminary – taking the
mandatory preaching class, I got a very low grade – 78. Why? Because my
professor insisted that one always had to preach the Gospel and the Good News.
How boring, I said, preaching only the Gospel year in and year out – when sometimes
the Good News was found in the Hebrew Scripture, and the not-so-good news in
the Gospel. I was willing to take the hit in the grade because it was really
important, and I think it still is.
So rather than just focus on the
birth of Jacob and Esau, we’re looking at the end as well. When we were kids in
Sunday School, we did sort of hear the story of Jacob and Esau, which is almost
“As the World Turns” from the Hebrew Scriptures; I am sure I never heard the
bits about Uncle Laban cheating Jacob out of the wife he wanted; I am more than
sure it was not preached in a sermon – and yet to me it is so packed with stuff
which is relevant to us today. Sometimes the good stories, and the lessons to
be learned really are in the Hebrew Scriptures. – and I think the whole story
is important to set up how God decided Jacob needed a strong lesson.
The story of Jacob and Esau starts
with the birth – and the names given to each of them which represented their
person or their character. The story indicates they even competed with each
other inside the womb before birth. Esau was the one who got going first, but
Jacob couldn’t let that happen, so he emerges right after Esau, having grabbed
his foot. So Esau means ‘red’ because of the colour of his hair when he was
born, and ‘Jacob’ could translate as ‘grabby’ or ‘sly’ because he was born grabbing
Esau’s foot, and developed a reputation for being less than honest. Esau was
the one who automatically got everything if his father died – his birthright.
And the rest of the story focuses on
the loss of Esau’s birthright, and the conflict spawned between their
descendent nations, because Jacob deceived their old and blind father, Isaac,
in order to receive Esau's birthright and blessing as firstborn. Genesis tells
us there was favoritism in this family: "Isaac loved Esau, because he ate
venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
Anyone here reading sibling rivalry?
The oldest and the youngest – even if just by a few seconds? Anyone hear “Mom
always loved you best; you were the youngest, you could always fool her.” “Dad
always loved you best – you only ate that meat so he would love you more.”
Genesis says "…the children struggled within her”.
One day Esau returned to his younger
brother, famished from working the fields. He begged his younger twin to give
him some stew. Jacob offered to give
Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized
as firstborn) and Esau agreed.
The birthright for the ancient
Israelites was more than ‘inheritance’ of goods and position by the eldest son –
it was also a responsibility to be wise, to carry on the entire family and clan.
t Esau acted impulsively, and valued his birthright as less than a bowl of
stew, and showed that he did not deserve to continue Abraham's responsibilities
and rewards under God's covenant.
Esau married two wives, Hittite
women, violating his father’s and God’s injunction not to take wives from among
the Canaanite population. His marriages were described as a vexation to both
Rebekah and Isaac. This alone ruled out Esau as the line of continuity in the
family. He could have overcome the sale of his birthright; Isaac was still
prepared to give him the blessing due the firstborn. Acquiring foreign wives
meant the severing of his children from the Abrahamic line. So despite the
deception on the part of Jacob and Rebekah, Jacob's place as Isaac's legitimate
heir in the continued founding of the Jewish people is reaffirmed. Essentially
the Bible indicates that a bright, calculating person who is less than honest,
is preferable as a founder over a bluff, impulsive one who cannot make
thoughtful and wise choices.
Esau vowed to kill Jacob, but
Rebekah persuades Jacob to run. Having fled for his life, Jacob left the wealth
of Isaac's flocks, land and tents in Esau's hands – the inheritance he had
obtained by deception. Instead, he was forced to sleep on open ground and work
for wages as a servant in Laban's household. That’s another whole story/
So God tells Jacob that it’s time to
relocate. Instead of doing it right, Jacob messes it up. While Laban is busy
elsewhere, Jacob loads up his Rachel and Leah, servants, herds, flocks, tents,
and leaves without saying a word. And Uncle Laban vows revenge.
Jacob is now in an empty camp with
little hope, and no escape. From nowhere, he is tackled, and wrestles all night;
and the writer is clear that God is the wrestler, and when it looked like God wasn’t
going to win, God gave Jacob a kick that knocked his thigh out of joint, and
left him with a permanent limp. Jacob will not let go, will not concede defeat.
"I won’t let go until you bless me!" and Grabby grabs, as God drags him.
In this story God takes on human
form and encounters Jacob at his own level, even going so far as cheating when it
appears Jacob might win. God prevails, and names Jacob “Israel” – which is
really a double entendre. It can mean “one who strives with God”, or “God prevails.”
So today we have a choice, with a
new name for this amalgamated pastoral charge. What is our name going to mean?
Because names do have meaning. Adjala, Hockley and Mono Mills had meaning – and
for their descendents who inherited a birthright. The church of their
forefathers. The world changed – horses and buggies were replaced by cars and
paved roads. Families moved, children finding work in other parts of the
country, a slow decline in the life of the church community. Yet some continue
to see their personal identity in those churches, and the churches finding a
community identity. And with the need to change that identity comes a wrestling
with our own identity.
For me this process is one of
wrestling with God. I believe God has something in mind, and there is an
inheritance to pass n. We are deciding what the living of that inheritance,
with a different name, will mean as we go forward. We’re being led by God into
a different phase of our existence, and praying that God’s blessing is on this
venture, just as Jacob wrestled till God blessed him.
For me faith means “God prevails”.
We wrestle with God in the intricate process of letting go and moving ahead. We
wrestle with God as we discern what a future will look like. So our name, to
some extent, will define who we will be in this new way of being. God prevails,
if we believe, as our creed says, we ‘trust in God, we are called to be the
church.’. Because we are, called to BE the church, in a different configuration
but church nonetheless. If our focus is on God and mission in our community, we
and God together prevail. May it be so.
*Limping With Grace *a sermon based
on Genesis 32:22-31* by Rev. Thomas Hall
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