PROPER 24C - Genesis 32:3-8, 22-30; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 -

21 October 2007 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Wrestling with God

 

JACOB’S UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT

 

Jacob had just a little bit to be afraid of. He had cheated his twin brother, Esau, out of his birthright. Then, when his blind father, Isaac, was dying, with help from his mother Rebekah (who always liked Jacob best), Jacob stole the final blessing from his dad. The final, you’re going to “lord it over your brother” and “blessed be everyone who blesses you”- that blessing - the REALLY BIG BLESSING that was intended for Esau, Jacob stole that from Esau, too, and when Esau found out, he was hopping mad about it, and vowed to kill Jacob. So Jacob did what you or I might do in that situation. He ran for his life, took sanctuary in his Uncle Laban’s village for fourteen years, hoping that Esau’s anger might subside. During that time, Jacob ended up with not one wife, but two, and not one or two children, but eleven, and became incredibly wealthy.

 

So, after not seeing his brother for fourteen years, Jacob is about to be reunited with his brother in the country of Edom, and he still isn’t sure what kind of meeting it is going to be. Wouldn’t you be a little churned up inside?

 

That night - the night before he met Esau again - the night after he had sent all his wives and maids and children across the river, and waited on the other side, alone - ALONE - Jacob stayed up all night. We are told that “a man wrestled with him until daybreak”. Was it a man? An angel of God? God himself? His fears? It doesn’t matter, really. What matters is what Jacob knew in his heart. And in his heart he knew that he had just spent the whole night wrestling with God. It was a standoff, basically. “When the man saw [after wrestling with Jacob all night long] 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.” And Jacob did not let the man - or God - go until the man had blessed him. In the process, God gave Jacob a new name - Israel - which means, “the one who strives with God.”

 

Jacob finally grew up on that unforgettable night, that showdown night. You’d of thought that two wives, two maids, and eleven children would have done the trick. Not so. Jacob grew up on that night when he wrestled all night long with God. He came out of it with a limp that he had for the rest of his life - marked and wounded forever. But on the night that Jacob finally became the person that God was calling him to be, on the night that Jacob grew up, God knew the timing was right to give him a new name. In the course of that night, Jacob was transformed. He quit being just a schemer, just a crafty man who trusted in his own devices, and became a man who knew he could take anything to God - his fears, his emotions, his head-strong self, his confusion, his ideas, whatever the latest thing that he was wrestling with - whatever it was, Jacob finally figured out he could take it to God, and God could handle it.

 

OUR WRESTLING

 

Perhaps we could all be named Israel. Do you ever strive with God... or wrestle with God?

 

Today’s lessons are all about wrestling, striving, being persistent, and persevering.

 

A young Timothy, struggling with leading a church, is advised by Paul, “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” Paul also throws in one “endure suffering”, just for good measure! In other words, “Keep at it; keep wrestling with God. It’s going to be this way for a while. I’ve been through what you’re going through. Be faithful, keep wrestling, and keep going.”

 

And Jesus tells a story about a very persistent widow. Luke claims it is a parable about the disciples’ need to pray always and never lose heart. That is only partly true, it seems to me. It is also about going after justice, and not being stopped, until justice is won. Going for justice by praying for it unceasingly - yes. But going for it by the actions that you take, too. Persistence, perseverance, prayerful - those were the traits this woman had. Not to mention engaging with God - wrestling with God - when you’re not sure what God is up to.

 

IS WRESTLING A BAD THING?

 

Sometimes you and I think that if we are wrestling with God, that is a bad thing. “Oh, I’m in a real hard place with God right now. I’m not sure where God is. I’m not exactly sure what God wants me to do. I’m confused. I’m really wrestling with this! I don’t know how it is going to turn out!” And then we might say, “I feel terrible. This stinks. What am I going to do?”

 

Our spiritual ancestors wouldn’t say, “Yeah, it really stinks to be you.” Much more likely that they’d say, “Yeah, I know! What you are going through isn’t so terrible. It is absolutely, positively normal!”

 

That is the message for us in the lessons for today. Wrestling with God is normal. Not necessarily fun. But not terrible, either. It doesn’t mean that God is far away. If you’re wrestling with God, in fact, it means that God is close at hand. Yes, you might get beat up a little in the process. You might get wounded, even. But the message of Christianity - the message of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead - is that God can take our woundedness and use it. Somehow, in the process of wrestling and being wounded, we are healed. Like Jacob, in the very midst of our wrestling we grow up and find a deeper level faith. And God uses us.

 

I don’t always see the wrestling that I do in my life a fun. In fact, I rarely do. But sometimes I sense God there with me in the midst of it. Sometimes it is my fears or insecurities I am wrestling with. Sometimes it is God himself that I am wrestling with. Sometimes I am not aware of it until after the wrestling, when I look back, and then I see that God was right there in the midst of it.

 

And I can see that something good came out of it. I moved beyond a fear. I grew up in some way. Some small injustice was addressed. Wrestling - as Jacob and Timothy and the persistent widow discovered - is not always a bad thing.

 

CONCLUSION

 

What is the biggest thing that you are wrestling with right now? Can you open yourself up to the possibility that God is in the midst of it - somehow? Can you open yourself up to the possibility that this wrestling you are going through might actually be a good thing?

 

Hang in there. Keep wrestling, until you have prevailed. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable in your eyes, or unfavorable. Our spiritual ancestor is Israel, which means “the one who strives with God.” Your striving, your wrestling, is not a bad thing at all.