Wrestling with God, Genesis 32
Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, August 6, 2023
Wrestling is an ancient sport. It is depicted on archaic Greek pottery and on the walls of Egyptian tombs. The oldest representations of wrestling date back 15-20,000 years ago, in caves in southern Europe. In fact there is evidence that wrestling has been practiced for eons in Asia, Europe, and Africa. In Cameroon, many of you will have heard of traditional wrestling, such as that of the BaKweri in the Southwest, where the object is to throw the opponent so that his back touches the ground (at least according to Wikipedia). There is something very personal and visceral about wrestling. You use your body to try to get the best of your opponent. There is no ball or bat to focus on, no team play – it is just you and one other person, trying your strength and skill against the other.
According to ancient clay tablets found in Sumeria, in what is now modern-day Iraq, the sport of wrestling was practiced there some 5000 years ago, and developed into refereed matches accompanied by music. That area includes Ur, original home of Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham. So it is no surprise that Jacob knew how to wrestle, or that a story about wrestling made it into holy scripture. Jacob and his brother Esau probably wrestled when they were little – after all, Rebecca said it felt like the two of them were already wrestling in her womb.
Last Sunday we met Jacob. He had tricked his elderly, half-blind father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing of the first-born, which should have gone to Esau. As a result, he had to run for his life, for, as the Bible tells us, Esau was determined to kill him. Jacob fled to his uncle Laban, far away from his brother and the rest of his family. There he married and became wealthy, owning many herds of goats, sheep, camels, cattle, and donkeys. In this morning’s passage, over twenty years had passed since he had left his parents and brother. He decided it was time to face his brother once again. As he approached home, word came to him that Esau was coming to meet him, with four hundred men. Jacob was terrified. He prayed, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,… I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”
He tried to avert his brother’s wrath by presenting him with extravagant gifts: “two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys…” He sent them on ahead with his servants, hoping to appease Esau before he met him face to face.
That night, he sent his wives and children on ahead of him a little ways, across the brook named Jabbok, and he slept alone. Or tried to. Whether it was a dream, or a vision, or it really happened, Jacob encountered God that night. We read, “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.”
We don’t know who this man is at first, but when he leaves, Jacob says, “I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life is preserved.” It is Jacob who prevails, but God – in the form of an angel, perhaps? - pulls his leg out of joint, so that Jacob walks ever after with a limp – a mark of his struggle and a reminder that he had been touched by God.
Why does God wrestle with Jacob – or is it Jacob who wrestles with God? We talk about wrestling with doubt, wrestling with fear, wrestling with guilt, but wrestling with God? Jacob had plenty to fear, plenty to doubt, and plenty to feel guilty about. Even though God had chosen to bless him from the beginning, he spent his life cheating others to get ahead in life. Now Jacob had had a long time to reflect on what he did to his brother and his father, in betraying and deceiving them. He admits he is not worthy of the love and faithfulness God has shown him. Because he cannot forgive himself, he cannot believe that God or his brother Esau can forgive him. Because he doesn’t think he is worthy of blessing, he cannot accept the blessings God has bestowed upon him. Perhaps in order to convince Jacob that he means to bless him, God comes to him in the form of a wrestler and allows Jacob to win. They fight all night. Finally, the angel – or is it God himself? – says, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” This statement is worth dwelling on. Sometimes we are angry with God, or at least disappointed. Things are not going right. Life is not fair. Maybe we are suffering a terrible loss that we think God could have and should have prevented. We search the scriptures to try to understand. We lie awake at night, praying, or turning the events of our lives over and over, wondering how they can all finally make sense. Author Flannery O’Connor was a faithful Christian, yet for most of her life she suffered from Lupus, a painful, debilitating disease. She must have often wondered why God had permitted her to suffer so much. She wrote: “…there is no suffering greater than what is caused by this doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”
Jacob’s story gives us a pattern to follow when we struggling with our faith. As he wrestles, he clings to God, saying, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” Debie Thomas, woman of color, writer, and Episcopal minister, comments on this wrestling match: “A God who wants to engage? A God I can come at with the whole weight of my thoughts, questions, ideas, and feelings? A God who invites my rigor, my persistence, my intensity? That's a God worth pursuing. That's a God I won't let go of.” If we can hold onto God, even when God seems to be fighting us, holding on until we can hold no more, God will finally bless us – maybe not with the blessing we were expecting or hoping for but blessing nonetheless. For in the end, the story tells us, “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Reconciliation and blessing. All was forgiven. The two brothers, who had been mortal enemies, lived in peace after that.
This encounter with God changed Jacob – after all, he limped for the rest of his life – maybe so that he would never forget what happened there that night. And God changed his name. “Jacob” meant “heel-grabber” a way to say “a supplanter, a person who gains power through devious means.” Now God changes his name to Israel, meaning “one who wrestles with God,” or even “one who sees God.” Jacob felt that he had indeed seen God, as evidenced by the name he gave to that place: “Peniel,” “the face of God.” Jacob’s new name, Israel, indicated an inner change. Jacob was no longer grasping for whatever he could get, always fearing that it would slip through his fingers, or that God would punish him for what he had done. Now he had striven with God and come out victorious. He had seen the face of God and lived.
Of course, Jacob, or Israel, as he was then known, was the father of twelve sons who became the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. This story is prophetic in that it foreshadows how the people of Israel would strive with God – sometimes obeying God’s laws, and other times transgressing. But that may be a story for another day.
Are you fighting with God? What doubts, fears, or guilt, do you wrestle with? God invites you to wrestle with him instead. God can take our doubts, our anger, our deepest fears. Take them to Him. Cling to God. Do not let go until God blesses you. For bless, he will, and more than you can imagine.
Let us pray: Lord, we have heard the story of Jacob as he wrestled with the angel, how he asked for the angel to bless him. We, too, come to you for blessing. There are so many times in our lives in which we have felt alienated, downtrodden, alone. It is easy for us to wallow in our misery, to complain about all the perceived – or real - injustices that have been heaped upon us. But you encourage us to stand strong; to seek the blessings that you have provided for us; to recognize the many ways that you are with us, giving us strength and courage. Be with us again, Lord. Guide our lives… [Your] mercies are lavished upon us, not because we deserve them, but because of your great and generous love for us. Help us receive these blessings and, in turn, be a blessing to someone else. For we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
(Prayer adapted from Ministry Matters: http://www.ministrymatters.com/)
© Deborah Troester, 2023