The Blessings of Wrestling: 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

It’s quite a story that we’ve been following the past few weeks from the Book of Genesis—Jacob and Esau. It began even before they were born. “Rebekah became pregnant. But the boys pushed against each other inside of her, and she said, ‘If this is what it’s like, why did it happen to me?’ So she went to ask the LORD. And the LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; two different peoples will emerge from your body. One people will be stronger than the other; the older will serve the younger.’ When she reached the end of her pregnancy, she discovered that she had twins. The first came out red all over, clothed with hair, and she named him Esau (meaning "hairy"). Immediately afterward, his brother came out gripping Esau’s heel, and she named him Jacob” (meaning he who cheats. Genesis 25:21-26, Common English Bible).

Two sons destined to be rivals, a rivalry that would be inherited by the descendants, the nations of Israel, and to Israel’s south, Edom. One, physically stronger, rough and hairy all over. The other, more clever, grasping for the advantage, and not above cheating to get his way. If you were to make a TV series of this story, you could call it, “Hairy and the Heel.” We’ve heard different parts of the story these past few weeks. We heard how Jacob wrestled the birthright of the older son from Esau with a bowl of stew. We missed the episode in which Rebekah helped disguise Jacob in Esau’s clothing and goat hide. So, when the blind father, Isaac, wishes to bless his oldest son, he gives that blessing to Jacob instead. Not surprisingly, the “Heel” then has to high-tail it out of Canaan in order to escape being killed by “Hairy.”

Then, we heard God enter this story for the first time. There is the Heel, on his way to an unfamiliar place, unsure of his fate. But it is to this man, whose name means, “cheater,” that God shows a ladder to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, and then repeats the promises he made to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, “Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants. I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you” (Gen. 28:14-15).

What a God of unmerited grace this is. And yet, responding to this promise, our hero the Heel keeps putting conditions on his own submission to God: “If God is with me and protects me on this trip I’m taking, and gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God” (Gen. 28:20-21). Jacob is still wrestling for the advantages of wealth and security. Well, our hero makes it to his ancestral homeland of Haran, east of Canaan. He falls in love with Rachel. But his Uncle Laban tricks him into marrying the older sister Leah, and then getting Jacob to agree to work for him for seven years in order to marry Rachel as well.

Well, our hero the Heel finally gets out of Haran, with both wives, and a whole lot of livestock that he basically swindled from Uncle Laban. And he makes his back to Canaan, and his brother “Hairy.” Maybe the years apart have softened up Esau, made him ready to let bygones be bygones, not. The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went out to your brother Esau, and he’s coming to meet you with four hundred men.” (Gen. 32:6). What will our hero do now? He splits his camp in two, and begins sending messengers with gifts of livestock to his brother coming to meet him with four hundred men.

And then he spends the night alone by the river. Except that suddenly, he’s not so alone. “But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke” (Gen. 32:24). Who is this “man”? At first perhaps, Jacob thinks it might be Esau, who wants to kill Jacob himself with his own cold hands. As the night struggle wears on, perhaps Jacob wonders if all the demons in his life have come together on this night: the insecurities that drove him to steal all his older brother’s advantages, to hoodwink his father, and his uncle. Maybe all those pressures have built up in his heart and have burst out, so that Jacob is literally wrestling himself.

But as the night turns to dawn, and Jacob continues to struggle with this “man” who has faithfully struggled with him, he begins to sense that this is more than a man, and that the man he is wrestling with is the one man who might be able to help him. “The man said, ‘Let me go because the dawn is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I won’t let you go until you bless me.’ And so God asks, “What is your name?” And Jacob speaks his name that is also a confession: “I am the Heel, the cheater.” And this faithful God says, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.” (Gen. 32:28).

God wrestles with us on our terms, for as long as it takes. We’re all victims of someone, or something, that has left its scars on our hearts, and God knows that. So when those scars leave us feeling insecure, God will wrestle with us, for years if necessary. This God of amazing grace will wrestle with us until we are ready to face the demons within ourselves, those insecurities that have led us to grasp for wealth and possessions, power and control, being “right” about the issue of the day, emotional comfort in whatever friends of the moment were willing to feed us. God wrestles with our complaints until those complaints become our confession.

And as God blessed the wrestler, “Israel,” so God blesses us, with what exactly? As Jacob limps toward his brother, he doesn’t know if Esau will accept his offerings of livestock. What blessing has God given Jacob? It’s not certainty about the future. It’s not a pat on the head that everything will be alright; although in the end Esau embraces his brother and the two are reconciled. Perhaps, the blessing is understanding of himself, the good and the bad within him, and the peace that comes from knowing that God has loved him and accepted him, warts and all. Perhaps the blessing is to be free from anxiety; to know that he can change his life; and if he falls, God will wrestle with him again as he picks Jacob up, dusts him off, and sends him on his way.

Through Jesus Christ, we have inherited the promise God made to Jacob: “Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.” We all are Israel, struggling with God and men, and by God's grace winning. God’s hand is always there, either to wrestle with or to embrace. Take it.