Grabby!

(Scriptures: Genesis 32:22-31
Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21)

Our Old Testament reading this morning is about Jacob, the flawed, complicated, infuriating man, son of Isaac, twin brother of Esau, who nonetheless was shown great favor by God. As we meet in Scripture the various characters who have been part of the great drama of faith, we may identify emotionally or spiritually with some characters more than others, may respond to some characters with awe, to others with pity. But we may not know what to do with Jacob. He’s just not a nice guy. We may have family members or coworkers who rub us the wrong way, who step on our toes, who God apparently put in our lives in order to teach us patience. And Jacob is like that. But we may find reassurance that, if someone as difficult, as ornery as Jacob can find favor with God, there’s hope for us as well.

Literally from the moment of his birth, Jacob did not play well with others – from the moment of his birth, from the moment he drew his first breath, he was grabbing the heel of his brother Esau, and his name is a play on the Hebrew word for “heel”, and is interpreted to mean “one who supplants”. Today we’d call that person “grabby”. This birth narrative set the tone for the relationship between the two brothers – Jacob does indeed turn out to be a heel - as Jacob first bought Esau’s birthright in exchange for a bowl of stew, and then tricked his aged father Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing intended for Esau. Not surprisingly, Esau was murderously angry at Jacob. Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, arranged for Jacob to stay with her brother Laban, and then told Jacob to get out of Dodge City.

At key points in his life, Jacob experienced visionary encounters with the divine. As he fled Esau to go to his uncle Laban, Esau had the vision in which he saw a ladder ascending to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. At this time of crisis, where he was literally fleeing for his life, God reassured him with the promise that had earlier been given to Abraham, of land and of a great family of descendents.

Having arrived at his destination, Jacob finds Laban to be every bit as tricky as Jacob is. Jacob and Laban turn out to be well-matched – not so much like peas in a pod, but more like a pair of scorpions in a bottle. Laban tricks Jacob into serving him for a total of fourteen years and marrying off both Rachel, whom Jacob loved, and the older sister Leah. But Jacob ends up prevailing over Laban in the end. After a total of 20 years with Laban, with Jacob and Laban for 20 years trying to get over on each other, Jacob left Laban, takes with him not only both Laban’s daughters, but vast flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.

At this point, Jacob learned that Esau was coming to meet him, with 400 men, and Jacob was terrified. Jacob had spent his whole life taking advantage of others, tricking his father, getting over on his brother, matching wits with Laban. He’d spent his whole life grabbing – grabbing his brother’s birthright and blessing, grabbing Laban’s daughters and flocks. Now Esau was coming for him, and he wasn’t alone. Had Esau been stewing, nursing a grudge for those 20 years? Was Esau coming for revenge? Was Jacob’s lifetime of grabbing what belonged to others, his lifetime of being a heel, going to come crashing down on his head?

And at this crisis point, Jacob has another vision, in which he spends the night wrestling with an unknown stranger. As he had all his life, Jacob seems to prevailing over the stranger – until the stranger fights dirty, putting out Jacob’s hip. Disabled, Jacob still hangs on for dear life, refusing to let go. He tells the stranger, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” The stranger gives Jacob a new name – Israel – meaning “God strives” or “one who strives with God.” And Jacob gives the place a new name, Peniel, meaning “face of God.” – because, Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face and lived to tell the tale.” Jacob walks off from that place, limping because of his hip, to meet his brother Esau for the first time in 20 years – it’s a tentative meeting, polite on the surface, but cautious – and Jacob tells Esau – “to see your face is like seeing the face of God.” As the stranger at the river had proved to be gracious to Jacob, so Esau likewise proved gracious. And, for once, instead of grabbing what belonged to someone else, Jacob presented Esau with gifts of cattle. Jacob, who had been blessed by God, was able for once to be a blessing to Esau.

This story of Jacob wrestling with God and the renaming of Jacob with the ambiguous name Israel – God strives, or one who strives with God – sets the tone for God’s relationship, not only with Jacob, but with Jacob’s descendents, the whole nation of Israel. Israel is blessed by God, but Israel grapples with God and God struggles to control and tame Israel. It’s a difficult, stormy, contentious relationship, but our gracious God refuses to walk away from Israel….as God refuses to walk away from us.

For Jacob’s story, Israel’s story, may be our story as well. Twice in the midst of crisis – when Jacob had to flee from his brother’s fury and when Jacob 20 years later finally had to face his brother – twice when Jacob feared for his life, Jacob experienced God’s presence in the midst of fear. What looked like a threat turned out to be a blessing. In his wrestling with God, Jacob was both changed and blessed. He came away from that experience with a blessing, with a new name – a new identity - but also with a limp that would always remind him of his face-to-face encounter with the divine.

We all encounter crisis points in our lives. A natural disaster or an accident or illness threatens our health, perhaps our life. Loss of employment leaves us in fear for our future. Anger and betrayal threatens to divide our family, or threatens a lifelong friendship. The sins of our past catch up with us, threatening the future. We’re upset, off-balance. We’re in crisis mode, with adrenalin pumping. “Why did this have to happen?” we ask. “Where do I go from here? Where is God in all this? Has God abandoned me?”

We may also struggle with our own sense of sinfulness. We may have things in our past that make us feel cut off from God’s love. Maybe we’ve had bad experiences with church in our past. We may wonder if God can love us.

It may be that, far from being abandoned, this place of crisis is exactly the place in which God seeks to meet us in a life-changing way. Rather than running, perhaps it’s time to face our fear, to grapple with fears in light of our faith, to grab onto God for dear life and hold on tight. We may be in for the ride of our lives. Like Jacob, out of crisis we may be both changed and blessed. We may come out of our crisis carrying the scars of our struggle, but with a changed life and with blessings from God that follow us from that time forward. Looking back on our struggle, we, like Jacob, may say, “Surely the Lord was in that place, and I didn’t even know it.” May we, like Jacob, keep on keeping on through times of crisis, and seek the God’s presence in the struggle. Amen.
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Need a place to ride out a time of crisis? Come to Emanuel United Church of Christ on Sundays at 10 a.m., and grab onto the joy and love of Christ. We're on Fillmore St (off Thompson). www.emanuelphila.org