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Wrestling Blessings Genesis 32:22 – 31; Psalm 17:1 – 7, 15 Vonetta Flowers is a young African-American track star that had her sights set on the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. She failed to qualify, and ‘her years of preparation were lost in a matter of seconds.’ John Walsh lives in a rural community and is the father of a young boy who was kidnapped off his own street. Lisa Beamer, pregnant with her third child, was one of the widows of September 11, 2001. Her husband, Todd, was a leader in the effort to bring down the plane in Pennsylvania rather than hitting government buildings in Washington, D.C. Joan Chittister in her book Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2003, P. 33-34) weaves together the stories of these three people, their struggles and their abilities to move through them to a more hopeful stance in life. Ms. Flowers – the track star – tried out for the Winter Olympics of that same year in a sport she had never seen – let alone attempted. She was the first black American to win a gold medal for bobsledding. Mr. Walsh launched the first national organization for missing children. Mrs. Beamer began a charitable organization to help others who find themselves in disastrous situations without resources. Devastation, struggle, crises, overwhelming challenges ARE a part of life. We all experience them. Most of us are able to live through them. How we do that – live through them…and what we bring to the other side of the struggle is critical consciousness and memory for our future well-being. Stories about people taking on the struggles of life seem to fascinate us. Tales about folks achieving the ‘unachievable’ bring us hope. Recognition of others who have somehow made it through the discouraging parts of life help us make the effort to begin our own plodding or keeping up the stamina to work through the pain of struggle. Today, we have the privilege of hearing, once again, one of the most important faith stories of struggle; not a singular crisis, but a life-long character that needed change. Jacob’s all night encounter is archetypal in that it captures the essence of something we all endure. It speaks to the baseline of human wrestling — the formative battle or most significant labor of our lives. It is a story about THE turning point in one’s life. There is an Hasidic story about a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, “Why on our hearts and not in them? The rabbi answered, “Only God can put scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your hearts and then when your heart breaks, the holy words will fall inside.” (Anne Lamott, Plan B p.73) May it be so for the story of Jacob’s wrestling in today’s scripture. Jacob’s life up to this point could be described by many negative connotations. Basically, he was a conniving trickster — getting back what he dished out. Beginning before he was born to attempt to get a place that was not his, Jacob continued a rampage through his life to scheme, plot and maneuver his way to what he thought he deserved — which always seemed to be more than what others thought. Granted, Jacob got some bum breaks in life. He did seem to try to start over several times. After he stole the birthright and the blessing of his father — that should have gone to Esau, (his brother) — he set out to start a new chapter in his life. His future father-in-law realized what a good worker Jacob was and so used him on his farm, promising him Rachel, the woman he loved. The father-in-law tricked Jacob and gave him Leah, the sister that no man would have chosen. So Jacob had to work longer for the privilege of Rachel. Once again he wanted to start fresh, but the conniving between father-in-law and Jacob was pretty amazing and kept him stuck a bit longer. In all of this, it seems that Jacob’s life was one of longing — longing to get to the next place…longing to be in a better situation…longing to get past whatever was troubling him at the moment. Finally free of his father-in-law, Jacob decided to quit running, go back and face his brother. The night before he would meet Esau, Jacob had chosen to be alone. Sending his wives, children and all their servants and belongings ahead, Jacob stayed back for time by himself. Some have said that this was a way to protect himself from his brother — for surely Esau wouldn’t kill his brother’s family — having them in the front of the line created a barrier, a cushion of protection. I give Jacob a bit more credit than that. I think Jacob understood that this might be the most important ‘change-point’ in his life. Running and trying to get ahead and get more than his share had become a way of life for him. He had truly lived into the name given him at birth — ‘the one who tries to supplant others’...the one always trying to get ahead. Now, he had decided to go back — ask forgiveness from his brother — not even knowing or believing that he might be received. So the night would be one for him to entertain all that he had been: a night of reflection and prayer to be ready for a new life, a transformation, hopefully a changed man. The struggle for Jacob was not with Esau. The struggle was with himself and with God. I sense that Jacob was tired — weary of the clamoring that had engulfed his entire life, weary of the constant battle to get ahead and always to be at odds with others. How many of us have lived that same life? But how do we change? How can we take a life that is lived one way and move into a life that is lived another way? And do catastrophic experiences like the loss of a child, death of a spouse, ruination of a life-long dream require the same struggle of getting to the other side? Jacob was a victim of his own name. We do know that parents in ancient Middle Eastern culture named their children according to what they believed about the character of the child. Jacob lived his out, but now was ready to change all of that. This would require a shift in the very core of his being and possibly only when done with an encounter with God. God would want to know if Jacob’s desire for change was true — faith-filled. God would want to know that Jacob’s potential would be lasting — long-term. God would want to know if Jacob was willing to risk all of his past for the possibility of a new future. No wonder it took all night for these two to wrestle. No wonder Jacob came out of the evening with a limp — a sign of the struggle. But he did come out of it with a new name, a new character, a new possibility. There are pivotal times in every person’s life where an encounter and wrestling with God is the necessity if true change is going to occur. It won’t come without a decision, however. It will not come in any natural order of the day. And it usually comes with some sort of battle scarring. Not only does this happen in the lives of individuals, however. It occurs in the life of communities, nations, denominations, congregations when together people know that the time has come for some wrestling...hoping for changes that will alter the course of life... desirous of character shifting that will put them more in tune with where God is calling them to be. May it be so for us at Union Avenue...may it be so for each of us personally...and may the words of Jacob’s story be put on our hearts so that they will fall inside at the right time. SW |
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