“He Left Limping”

(Genesis 32:22-31)

The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.  Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.”  But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”  So he said to him, “What is your name?”  And he said, “Jacob.”  Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.”  Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”  But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?”  And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.”  The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip.

              Well, I’ve been limping around all week because of my hip or the muscles and tendons thereabouts.  Last Sunday afternoon I went canvassing in the Highland Square neighborhood, and I haven’t been the same since.  It’s as though I got struck on the hip socket—like my friend Jacob….

Now Jacob’s life thus far had not been heroic.  This guy had been said to have grabbled his twin Esau’s heel in the womb so that he, Jacob, would be the first-born to Isaac and Rebecca.  You may recall that Isaac was the miracle baby born to old Abraham and Sarah. 

Well, back to Jacob.  He and his mother, Rebecca, tricked old blind Isaac by wearing an animal skin so that Isaac thought Jacob was his brother Esau (it seems Esau was a very hairy man!).  That way he got his father’s blessing.  Jacob was involved in all kinds of trickery and had done his brother all kinds of wrong!

Jacob’s story is an interesting, even strange, interlude as this Biblical patriarch, Jacob, was on his way to the Promised Land.  As you heard, he had been in the midst of a conflict with his twin brother Esau for their whole lives, and that would be coming to a head in the story following this one.  In the story before this one Jacob had just completed unfinished business with his father-in-law, Laban. 

And now we are told this strange little story of how Jacob was traveling with his whole company of people and animals and goods.  He told all of them to make their way across the Jabbok River while he decided to stay behind.  The story is told quickly in very few words beginning this way: “Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.” 

But before we take on the wrestling match, let’s pause and imagine how this waiting alone must have felt to Jacob.  He had no idea how the meeting with his estranged brother was going to go.  Would Esau with his 400 troops just kill him, would he capture and torture him, would he go after his family and their possessions or would he miraculously forgive Jacob?  I’m imagining that many of us have had the experience of waiting: waiting for test results, waiting to decide on the fate of a marriage, waiting for a loved one to find their way to sobriety or some better path, waiting for another person to forgive us, waiting to hear about a job interview, waiting until we are ready to move on from a destructive relationship.  Waiting. 

What shall we do while we wait?  Well, an activity was given to Jacob.  How about wrestling with God?  That will keep you busy, eh?  Those of you who have wrestled with God have experience with sleepless nights, uncertain futures, the need to control everything, the impossibility of being in charge of it all, the helpless feeling in the midst of that.

So, back to the text.  We discover that Jacob’s wrestling partner, this “man,” as he is identified, is actually God.  It so happens that Jacob and God are quite evenly matched as wrestlers, and so the wrestling does, indeed, go on through the entire night.  Jacob gets struck on the hipbone by the “man,” when it was clear that Jacob was holding his own.  “The man” demanded that Jacob let him go since it was soon to be daybreak.  Jacob replied that he would not let him go unless “the man” blessed him.  First, “the man” demanded his name which Jacob gave him.  “The man” replied that his opponent’s name would no longer be Jacob, but was now to be Israel “because you have struggled with God and with humans and have prevailed.”  Then Jacob asked him for his name which he did not give.  It was only then that he turned around and blessed Jacob.  And so, Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was saved.”

One thing that I know about this text is that almost any of us can find our own story buried within it.  So, pay attention to what surfaces for you.  You have MY blessing as you craft a do-it-yourself sermon. 

Here are some thoughts that have come to me, though, as I’ve been working it.  First, we must drop our preconceptions about God in order to let the text speak for itself.  We can’t get involved in saying, “Well, God could beat anyone at anything,” and then try to fit the story into our own narrative.  I guess this is the only (as far as I know) wrestling scene between God and a hero in our scriptures, so, it’s like the ultimate Olympic wrestling match.  We are interested and intrigued by this “God in human form” who engages in a match with a human being and, it turns out, there is no winner and no loser, really. 

So it is clear that this is not only about a dark night of the soul for Jacob or a really bad dream.  We are meant to hear it as a wrestling match.  Perhaps this match was a divine test as in “let’s see what this guy is really made of when the going gets tough.”  It seems, though, that God was challenging Jacob at the very deepest levels of his being.

Perhaps it really is meant as a turning point in Jacob’s life, a faithfulness to his calling and to the promises made between him and God.  What we see is Jacob stepping up to the plate, alone in the world, hanging in there throughout this cosmic wrestling match.

After Jacob demanded a blessing and didn’t immediately get one, God demanded Jacob’s name, “What is your name?” God asked.  He replied, “Jacob.”  Then God gave him a new name.  “You shall be called Israel for you have struggled with God and with humans, and you have prevailed.” 

And so, as I struggled with the story of Jacob and God struggling, I have been asking myself what do I want to leave you with?  So I decided to look at the end of the story, at this line: “The sun rose upon Jacob as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip.” 

Yes, Jacob had come out of his wrestling match with God with a new name that honored their struggle, but he did not escape unscathed.  He would have that darned limp for the rest of his life.

And so, of course, I see, as you must, the parallels in our own lives, the times we have struggled with God, and have the battle scars to prove it.  I have seen folks who have fought with God about their diseases, asking why me?  Why, since I am working so hard to do everything right, am I not cured of my disease?  Why, since I have been a reasonably good person, must I suffer this way?  Why would a good God not act on my behalf or on the behalf of people who are suffering so?  In fact, I often hear the loved ones of a person with a disease ask these very questions.

And I have heard folks struggle with loved ones’ deaths asking Why?  Why?  Why?  I have known many who have wrestled with addiction or other diseases or tough circumstances in their lives.  They undoubtedly wonder, “Where is God?”  OR they may be quite clear that God has been there, that they have been wrestling with God all along.

And the thing is, following these kinds of troubles we may find ourselves limping on down the road afterwards, never able to forget the cosmic struggle we have been engaged in.

Now, the rest of the story that you didn’t hear in the reading, though I referred to it earlier, is that Jacob knew that his brother was waiting on the other side of the river with 400 fighting soldiers.  What was that going to look like?  He had no idea.  So, not only has he been wrestling with God all night, he was uncertain and terrified about what awaited him the next morning. 

Certainly in this narrative there is a message for the whole of ancient Israel as they were searching for a way to unify as a kingdom.  It is no mistake that Jacob’s name became Israel.  We see, over and over, in the whole Bible, especially in the book of Genesis, God’s people struggling with God, with their identity, with what it meant to be God’s blessed people and the expectations that God has of those who have received a blessing.

I am struck with the parallels that can be made with our own nation, for this is surely a time of struggle.  The United States of America has lost status in the world and at home lately.  We are engaging in practices that bring us and our reputation down.  The monumental task of how we might gain back a bit of our former status in the world, how we might come back to a good place here at home, boggles my mind.  We are struggling, and we will surely be left with injuries that will be apparent throughout history.

Yet I recall and am comforted by Jacob’s words after his all-night struggle with God.  He, ultimately, had received God’s blessing, and he named the place Peniel “for I have seen God face-to-face, and yet my life is preserved,” saved, if you will.

So, I believe that this is the word of hope spoken into this strange, confusing story.  It is a word of hope that comes to us in our own confusing stories.  We have struggled with God all night long.  We have seen God face to face, yet our lives have been saved.  WE are saved.  We still belong to God.  We still live as persons, blessed by God.  We still live in a world that was made and blessed by God.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.