This sermon was delivered Sunday, August 4, 2002.
When we wrestle with God, we don’t remain the same. We are forever transformed by the experience. When God gets involved things always change, and things certainly changed for Jacob. The story of Jacob is not a happy go lucky story of a likable hero. Rather, Jacob’s story is a story of a man who lies, cheats and connives. Jacob’s story plays a lot like that of a villain on a soap opera. Even before he was born, Jacob caused trouble. He fought with his brother in the womb and even tried to hold him back by grabbing on to his ankle—in fact Jacob’s name means He takes by the heel or He supplants. He was aptly named, for later he tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright. Jacob would now be considered the first born. But that wasn’t enough for our unlikely hero. As Isaac, the boys’ father, grew older, he prepared for death by offering his blessing to Esau his favorite son. But, Isaac’s wife Rebecca, thought that her favorite son, Jacob, deserved the blessing so she helped him trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead. Thus, Jacob, the second born got both the birthright and blessing usually given to the first born. Talk about Sibling Rivalry! These two took it to a new level. In response to his conniving brother, Esau threatened to kill Jacob, so Jacob ran away! For years he lived with his uncle Esau earning the right to marry Leah and Rachel. Finally, after tricking Laban out of a bunch of livestock, Jacob had to leave. On his journey Jacob had to pass through land that belonged to his brother. Rightfully scared, Jacob sends gifts and messengers. And while he waits all alone for a response from his family, he has this bizarre encounter! Jacob spent the night wrestling with God. And Jacob would never be the same. We too wrestle with God, and we too will never be the same.
Jacob is on the road to reconciliation and so are we. We must reconcile with God, our neighbors, our families, and ourselves. Reconciliation means we have to be willing to wrestle with who we are and what we have been and what we have done. Jacob had to come to grips with who he was and who he had been. He had not been a nice guy and God knew that Jacob needed to change, so God forced Jacob to come to grips with who he was and the person he had been. As you’ve seen this morning, Jacob had dome some bad things and made some really poor decisions. God called him out—into the ring so to say—to answer for his actions. God calls us into the ring too. God calls us to answer the questions: Who are you? Who have you been? What have you done? If you are not satisfied with the answers, then God might be calling you out. Is God picking a fight with you? Is god asking you to make a change? Is God Wrasslin with you over a tough decision? During my Camp adventures this summer, I met a young man who was wrasslin with God. Jay had been a wild teen, a young adult alcoholic and an unfulfilled wanderer through life. But, God clotheslined Jay and pulled him into the ring. I saw Jay give powerful testimonies to the power of his faith, I saw him give a beautiful benediction, and I saw God work in Jay. Through this struggle with God, Jay was able to talk about and come to grips with the person he had been. But harder still, he had to come to grips with who God was ASKING him to become. Jay was an unlikely hero, but he was in the process of reconciliation. Just like Jacob and Just like Jay, we MUST wrestle with God, we must wrestle with who we are and who we have been and what we have done. More importantly, we most wrestle with who God is asking us to become.
Wrestling with God forces us to claim a new identity. To be wholly reconciled we must claim a new identity. We must claim a new identity as a changed person, as a reconciled person, as a WHOLE person. God gave Jacob a new identity. God gave him a limp and a new name. Jacob would become Israel—the one who strives with God. His name change was an external indication of the internal change he had undergone. When we undergo change, our name often changes. Sometimes we add a name, sometimes we change it completely, or sometimes we ad a special title to indicate who we have become. Ben Hooper went from being Donald to being Benjamin David Henry Hooper. His adoption is marked by his name change. Bruce went from being Bruce Barkhauer to being REVEREND Bruce Barkhauer—denoting his fulfillment of God’s call to ministry. In the catholic tradition, children receive an extra name as a symbol of their confirmation and first communion. Before my marriage, I was Becky Yowler, after my graduation from college and my marriage to Kevin, I was no longer the same person. I became Rebecca Butler. Whatever the cause of a name change, we must claim that name and live up to the change we have been inspired to make. When we wrestle with God, we often come out with an external sign of that wrasslin’ match. We must claim that new idenity. We must take it and run with it. Wrestling with God forces us to claim a new identity.
So what about this story of Jacob and the smackdown at Peniel? Jacob came out of the wrestling match with God with a new identity. But more importantly, he came out the ring with the confidence and power to reconcile with his brother and become a more faithful, if not a more well behaved, person.