000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

70 Proper 13 [18]/Year A
ancient Near Eastern custom, a thief should make restitution. While seeking
to do so, Jacob learned that Esau was coming, which aroused Jacob’s
fear. In an irony, Jacob instructs messengers to tell Esau that Jacob is
Esau’s servant (Gen. 32:3–21).
The night before Jacob was to meet Esau, Jacob sent the traveling party
across the Jabbok and slept alone (Gen. 31:22–24a). The Jabbok is a small
stream feeding into the Jordan about halfway between the Sea of Galilee
and the Dead Sea. Jacob faced reunion with a potentially violent Esau; on
this reunion hung the future of Jacob and the blessing of the nations. Esau
could destroy Jacob and his family.
In the night, a figure wrestled with Jacob until almost daylight. Initially
neither Jacob nor the reader knew the identity of this intruder. A thief?
Esau? A water spirit? The struggle was intense, and the newcomer could
not wrestle Jacob into submission (32:24b–36).
The key moment in the narrative occurs in verse 28. God changes
Jacob’s name to Israel, which means “one who struggles with God.” This
passage interprets the story of Israel as a community struggling similarly
with God. As the struggle closed, God blessed Jacob (v. 29). However, he
is marked by this encounter: he limped because of a blow to the hip (v. 31).
In the next episode the assurance communicated in 32:22–32 is fully seen.
Jacob had struggled to reunite with Esau, and they are reconciled (Gen.
33:1–17). The struggle for community, fearful as it is, brings blessing.
This story is a narrative foreshadowing of the ways in which Israel
struggled with God as a part of the mission of being a conduit to the blessing
of the nations. The text does not romanticize struggle in general but
calls our attention to struggle in behalf of discerning and following God’s
purposes. The passage is an assurance. In the face of overwhelming odds
(Esau, the powerful stranger) God is present and will work inexhaustibly
to provide opportunities for God’s purposes and blessing to prevail.
To be sure, just as Jacob walked away with a limp, Israel would sometimes
suffer (and still does). The passage assures the community that even
when blessing does not immediately result, God is present and doing all
that God can do to bring it about. Indeed, struggle with God is not only
constitutive of the identity of Israel but can become a means of grace.
Jacob did not realize immediately that he was wrestling with God. Is it
too much to think the same may be true of people today? A sermon on
this text could be a haunting occasion on which to help the congregation
become Jacob in struggle with God regarding the present and future of
the blessing of some aspect of the world.