This week’s sermon is on one of the strangest stories in the Bible: Jacob’s wrestling match with God in Genesis 32:22-31. For a message on the Gospel text from Luke 18:1-8, see my sermon from three years ago.
Helpful reflections for this week’s sermon include this commentary from Pastor David Lose, and this sermon from Pastor Linda A. Pepe of First Baptist church of Moorestown, New Jersey.
I think most of you know Christin and I are expecting a baby in a little over two months, right around Christmas. Last weekend, we were at our home church in Fond du Lac, and since people hadn’t seen us in a while, we had the same conversations over and over.
First, everyone asked Christin “How are you feeling?”
Then, there were three follow up questions. When is the baby’s due date? (December 26…yes, that’s the day after Christmas)
Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl, or is it a surprise? (Yes, we know it’s a boy. Or it’s a really big surprise!).
And finally, do you have a name picked out yet? We do not have a name picked out, although we’re making progress on narrowing down the options. You can give us suggestions after service.
You who are parents already know this, but picking out a name is hard! Christin’s parents and sister work in education, so they have a list of names to avoid. We don’t want to name him after a family member, or after anyone at church. Biblical names are good, but it has to be pronounceable and spellable, so Nebuchadnezzar and Melchizadek are out.
Also, names have meanings, so we want to be careful what we stick this kid with! Daniel means “God is my judge.” Christin is a variation of Christian, meaning “Follower of Christ.” There’s all sorts of websites and books you can go to find out what your name means. Often in the Bible, people’s names relate to their characters.
Our Bible story today is about Jacob wrestling with God, and for this story to make sense, we need to go back to before he was born.
His mother Rebekah, wife of Isaac, was pregnant with twin boys, and Genesis says “The boys pushed against each other inside of her.” She asks the Lord why they can’t get along, and the Lord responds, “Two nations are in your womb; two different people will emerge from your body. One people will be stronger than the other; the older will serve the younger.”
When the twins are born, the first one comes out red and hairy, so he’s named Esau, which means “Hairy.” Immediately after, the younger of the twins came out, and as he came out, he was holding on to Esau’s foot. So he’s named Jacob, which means “Foot-grabber” or less literally, “the cheater.”
During his life, Jacob lives up to both his name and the prophecy spoken about him. One time, his older brother Esau is hungry, and Jacob tricks him into trading away his inheritance as the eldest child for a bowl of stew. Maybe some of the Sunday School kids remember learning that story last year. Later, when their father Isaac is old and blind, he wants to give Esau his blessing, but Jacob tricks him into giving it to him instead.
Esau gets so upset at being tricked and having his birthright stolen, that he plots to kill Jacob, and Jacob runs away to live with his uncle Laban.
It takes a couple tries, because he’s not the only one who can play tricks, but he marries the love of his life Rachel, and things go well for him. Thanks to some more trickery, his flocks multiply and he becomes a very wealthy man.
And then God tells him it’s time to go back home.
Now, Jacob is nervous about going back home, because Esau is there, and last he knew, Esau wanted to kill him – that’s why he left in the first place. So he sends out messengers to ask Esau to be kind to him.
But they come back saying “We went out to your brother Esau, and he’s coming out to meet you with four hundred men.” Esau has an army! It looks like all Jacob’s trickery has caught up with him. The foot-grabber, the stealer of birthrights, the con artist is about to pay, and he knows it.
Jacob is so nervous now that he divides his family and his flocks into two separate camps, so if Esau attacks one camp, hopefully at least the other will survive. He also sends a parade of other messengers ahead with gifts for Esau, to try to calm him down.
That night, Jacob and his wives and sons cross the Jabbock river into Esau’s territory. This is where our reading picks up. Jacob is so nervous he can’t sleep. He sends his family across the river, and he’s left alone.
Except, it turns out he’s not alone. Instead, a man or a demon or an angel or something is there and they wrestle all night. Jacob—exhausted, nervous—hangs on until dawn. As the light dawns, his opponent realizes Jacob won’t give up, and he strikes him putting his hip out of joint. But still, Jacob won’t let him go.
And here’s the interesting part of this strange story. His opponent asks him, “What is your name?”
Jacob knows what his name means. He knows what he’s done to get to where he is. He knows he’s cheated his brother, and his uncle. He knows he’s spent his life taking what rightfully belongs to others. He knows what his name means.
And so does God, for it turns out that’s who Jacob has been wrestling. God knows how much Jacob deserves everything Esau seems about to give him. God knows who Jacob is, yet asks anyway, “What is your name?”
Jacob admits it. He answers, “Jacob.” It’s a confession. Knowing someone’s name symbolically gives you power over them, which is perhaps why the one who wrestles with him refuses to reveal his own name. Jacob makes himself vulnerable.
But instead of giving him the punishment he deserves, the Lord instead gives him a new name. Verse 28: “You shall know longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” Jacob gets a new start. He’s held on all night, desperate for some hope, wrestling in the dark, and he gets his blessing.
My question (well, one of my questions – like I said, this is a strange story!) – My question is if he had to wrestle all night for God to bless him. Was all this even necessary?
Because God had already promised to bless him. His mother had already heard the promise that great nations would come from her sons.
But perhaps for Jacob to accept God’s blessing, he needed to have wrestled. It’s not until he stops wrestling and makes himself vulnerable that he is blessed.
Perhaps it’s not Jacob hanging on all night in this wrestling match, but God who is hanging on, refusing to abandon Jacob. Perhaps what looks like cheating—dislocating Jacob’s hip—is God saying enough is enough: Quit fighting and let me bless you. I wonder.
The name the Lord gives Jacob is “Israel,” which means wrestles with God. And of course, he does go on to produce a great nation. The descendants of Israel’s 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel. And throughout the Bible, Israel’s name makes sense, because the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, continue to wrestle with God.
So what is the good news in this strange story?
Perhaps the good news is that a trickster, a hustler, can be redeemed.
Perhaps the good news is that whatever name parents give to kids is secondary to the name God gives to God’s people. The labels and names the world gives us do not define us unless we give them power. God has claimed you in the waters of baptism and given you a new name, a new identity as child of God, and that name overpowers every other name you’re given.
Perhaps the good news is that God is willing to hang in there all night wrestling with you, if that’s what you want to do.
Perhaps this is an illustration of the promise that God doesn’t give up on you, and if God wants to claim and rename you and give you new life, that’s what God’s going to do, (even if it takes wrestling all night until you see the light).
Perhaps the point of this story is that all of us have times when we stay up all night wrestling with God, and that’s ok.
Wrestling with God, questioning God, struggling with God, even not recognizing God is part of faith. Faith means persisting in trusting God through the wrestling.
Beloved of God, as you wrestle with God this week, may the peace of Christ which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen