Today’s Match: Smackdown With God!

Genesis 32:22-31                     Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas       October 17, 2004

Most likely, many of you are somewhat familiar with this Old Testament story from the book of Genesis. The synopsis is that Jacob (the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham) wrestles with God (or an angel of God) all night long. Jacob will not let his opponent go until he gets a blessing. It comes in the receiving of a new name. From now on he will be known as Israel. The struggle comes with a price, however: Jacob’s hip is dislocated (or thigh bone is broken, or something like that) and he now walks with a limp.

Well, the more research I did on this passage the more biblical scholars revealed how problematic and enigmatic this particular story is on so many levels, stemming primarily from its centuries of oral transmission.

So for this sermon I’ve I decided to skip over most of the scholarly debates and hit the high points of what this story might reveal to you and me, and us, today. And that begins with a bit of background of just who this Jacob really was. You may remember that he was the twin brother of Esau. Jacob spent his life, it seems, tricking and cheating Esau, his older brother by a few minutes, out of what was rightfully his.

At one point, Jacob manipulated Esau into giving up his entire inheritance, his birthright, simply for a bowl of porridge. Later on, he tricked his blind and dying father, Isaac, (with the help of his scheming mother) into thinking that Jacob was Esau, in order to receive Isaac’s deathbed blessing.

When Esau heard about how his brother stole the blessing that was intended for him he was rightfully furious. He decided he was going to kill his younger brother, Jacob. So what did Jacob do? He ran. He ran to the distant country of his uncle, Laban. There, Jacob meets Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. In a way-too-long story for this morning, Jacob ends up marrying both of them. After twenty years, Jacob finally decides he has to return to his homeland and face his brother, though he is still scared for his life.

Cowardly, Jacob sends everyone else ahead of him, in an attempt to appease Esau. He spends the night alone by the banks of the Jabbok River, a tributary running into the Jordan River north of the Dead Sea. It’s no coincidence that the Hebrew word for “wrestle” is also the root word for the name of this particular river. So here we have Jacob wrestling throughout the night at what can be translated as the Wrestle River. The Old Testament is full of stories that make use of such clever plays on words. That is one way how biblical scholars have come to understand that many of these stories are really more metaphorical and symbolic than they are literal and historical. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have wonderful things to reveal.

Case in point, Jacob’s life had been marked with occasions in which he manipulated, tricked, and cheated his way into receiving blessings. But on this night he had to wrestle and fight for a blessing all by himself, alone, without tricks or deception. Who or what Jacob actually wrestled with that entire night is not clear. Was it a man, an angel, God, or perhaps his own conscience? Regardless, the encounter had divine implications. For ultimately this remarkable episode presents a mysterious struggle of Jacob with God. Verse 30 states, “So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’”

After an all-night, no-holds-barred smackdown, Jacob, though wounded, receives a blessing, and a new name. Any time in the Bible, when someone gets a new name, it is a sign of a dramatic and enormous change within that person. Abram becomes Abraham. Sarai becomes Sarah. In the New Testament Saul becomes Paul, the Apostle. Cephas becomes Peter, which means rock. In our story, Jacob, the manipulator, trickster, and cheater, becomes Israel, the father of a nation, his 12 sons eventually becoming the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Have you ever experienced a name-changing type of transformation in your life?

Now, what does all this have to do with you and me thousands and thousands of years later? If it’s just a historical story, I suppose nothing. But that’s now how we approach Scripture. We believe that through the Holy Spirit, God speaks through these ancient texts to us as individuals or as communities, and most often both.

So the most obvious question for reflection is this: What have you been wrestling with in your life lately? Relationships, family members, finances, employment, sexuality, addictions, depression, your health, loneliness, anger, your reputation, your pastor, mere survival, politics, theology, God, your own conscience?

Ever have trouble sleeping because that seems to be the time when you do the most wrestling with these things? Pay attention to what it is you wrestle with in the middle of the night, or whenever it is you wrestle. We all wrestle. And sometimes the smackdown, drag-out fight can last for an entire night, or for a week, a month, a year, or even a lifetime.

Wrestling with something is different than merely having anxiety over something. Wrestling implies that there is something that needs to be struggled with, worked out, understood, or even changed – whether it be our attitudes or actions.

Notice that in this ancient story, it is only at the end of the wrestling match that the blessing comes.What should this tell us? Persevere in whatever it is you are wrestling with, don’t give up – for the blessings will come. The blessing, in fact, is a direct result of the conflict. That doesn’t mean that all blessings from God only come with conflict. Rather, it means that when we wrestle with that which needs to be wrestled with, a blessing awaits. Sometimes we may need to be more intentional in recognizing those blessings. It is after the struggle that the turning point in life came for Jacob. He was given the courage to face his brother, Esau, and to seek reconciliation.

I believe there are institutional implications in this story as well as personal ones. What are we wrestling with as a congregation? For one, we find ourselves struggling financially. Therefore, what are the things that we must confront? Do we give up the wrestling match, or do we refuse to let go until the blessing comes? Will we, too, like Jacob, end up recognizing the very face of God?

Today’s story from Genesis goes further than holding up a mirror to life as a struggle. By example it says: do not let go, but continue in the struggle, even when God is experienced as threatening. Furthermore, by its resolution it concludes that struggle – even with God – may end with a blessing, even though one may limp on afterward with the scars of the battle.

Amen.