WRESTLING Sermon Presented to St. Paul’s Church 7 Pentecost, Genesis 32:22-31, Year A July 31, 2011 Thack Dyson

I have always liked competitive wrestling. Now before you leap to conclusions,

I’m not talking about “” that you see on Pay-For-View where you

have the likes of , , , and Dolph Ziggler bashing each

other with folding chairs and doing power slams from the ropes. No, those folks are

“wraslers,” not wrestlers.

No, I’m talking about competitive wrestling like the Scholastic Style Wrestling

you see in some high schools, you see in colleges, and the Greco-

Roman style you see in the Olympics. These styles of wrestling originate from a style that is arguably the oldest and purest competitive sport.

In this sport there are no nets, no bases, no end zones; no balls to bounce, throw, hit, or catch. The competition is intensely personal; your entire body is entangled with your opponent’s, straining to its limits to exert your will over the other. The only goal is to elude your opponent’s hold and impose your own until you are able to pin him into submission. This type of wrestling, in essence, is simply never letting go of your opponent until he surrenders. Even boxing and the martial arts, which emphasize hits and blocks rather than holds and escapes, are more abstract forms of this elemental contest.

There is no team in wrestling; a group of wrestlers competing together is called "a team," but only in the sense that they wear the same uniform and cheer for each other. As a wrestler, you go face to face and toe to toe with your opponent, with no one and nothing except your own might, skill, and will to assist you. As a wrestler, you are utterly alone. Wrestling can also be a good metaphor for our relationship with God. Trying to stay faithful is never easy. Tempted by our own sinful and self-centered desires, our relationship with God can be like one, lifelong wrestling match. We see that in our reading from Genesis this morning. In today’s lesson, we see the only wrestling match in the Bible. The Hebrew word for “wrestle” is an old word, and is used only once in the

Bible. It is used in the context of today’s reading about Jacob where he wrestled with

God or an angel one night along the banks of the Jabbok River.

Now, the key to this whole story is the name Jacob. The name “Jacob,” according to some scholars means “supplanter,” or one who displaces another. In this context, it could also mean cheater or manipulator. A supplanter is someone who will cheat you if given half a chance. That describes the story of Jacob. In fact, Jacob is such a consummate cheat he’d probably swindle his grandmother’s last Social Security check.

We’ve already heard some colorful stories about Jacob and his cheating ways in our lessons in recent weeks that demonstrate how and why Jacob deserved to be named supplanter or cheater.

As you recall, the first story was about how Jacob cheated Esau, his twin older brother, out of his inheritance. Being the older brother, Esau stood to inherit most their father Isaac’s property. Knowing that Esau was not the sharpest pencil in the box, he came up with a simple plan to displace his brother as the primary heir. How did he do it?

Jacob manipulated Esau to give up his whole inheritance, his whole birthright, for a bowl of stew.

Jacob wasn’t through cheating people, however. On another occasion Jacob deceived his father into thinking he was Esau so he could receive his father’s blessing. Isaac was now old and blind and Jacob pretended to be Esau, even to the point of wearing goat skins so he would smell like his earthy, older brother. Mistaking Jacob for Esau, the blind father gave the wrong son the blessing.

When Esau heard about that, he was furious. First, Esau had been cheated out of his birthright. And then he was cheated out of his father’s final blessing before his death.

Esau was so angry that he decided he was going to kill his younger brother, Jacob. Jacob, realizing Esau’s fury, fled as fast as he could go, crossing the Jabbok River, into the neighboring territory and ran all the way to his uncle Laban’s home.

And now we meet Uncle Laban, and this is another part of the story of Jacob the supplanter. Uncle Laban had two daughters, Rachael and Leah. It wasn’t long before

Jacob fell in love with beautiful Rachael. So Jacob asked Laban for his permission to marry her. Jacob was so taken by Rachel that he even offered to work for Laban for seven years in order to marry her. Laban readily agreed, and after seven years of serving

Laban, the great day had arrived. It was Jacob’s wedding night, yet instead of Rachel,

Laban substituted his daughter Leah. Jacob was deceived into thinking Leah was Rachel and when he woke up the next morning, he discovered the deception. Realizing he had been tricked, Jacob jumped up, stormed out of the tent and went to Laban shouting,

“Uncle Laban, you cheated me.” I suspect Laban laughed to himself and thought, “Got you.” The cheater gets cheated. And though Laban allows Jacob to marry Rachel, he requires Jacob to work for him another seven years in the bargain.

After many years in Laban’s service, Jacob became restless and wanted to return to his homeland. However, he had worked hard for Laban and wanted to take his now large family and some of Laban’s flock with him. He struck a deal with Laban to take the spotted sheep and goats as his wages. Yet, Laban tried to trick Jacob again by taking the spotted livestock from his herds. Jacob, realizing this latest deception, had the remaining livestock produce spotted offspring. In the end, he wound up with better stock than Laban.

Jacob’s actions angered Laban and Jacob realized that his situation was precarious. In the nick of time, the Lord told Jacob to go back home to the land of his fathers. However, this was also the land of his brother Esau. Jacob knew that he might have to face Esau after all these years and did not relish the prospect. Nevertheless,

Jacob and his family fled from Laban and headed to his homeland. Before entering into the land of Edom where Esau lived, Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother

Esau. They returned to Jacob with the news that they had met with Esau and that he was coming to meet them with four hundred men. Sensing danger, Jacob divided his people and possessions into two groups and sent the groups ahead of him while he stayed on the safe side of the Jabbok River.

This brings us to today’s reading. That night, on the safe side of the Jabbok,

Jacob set up camp. According to the text, “a man wrestled with him until daybreak.”

(Gen. 32:24). This man, who Jacob later identifies as God, then struck Jacob on the hip socket and dislocated Jacob’s hip. For whatever reason, Jacob did not let the man go.

The stranger then said to Jacob, “Let me go for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So the man said to Jacob, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and prevailed.” Now what is the meaning of this story? Well, to me it means that on that night along the Jabbok, Jacob had a wrestling match with God. Jacob had spent his life cheating, conniving, and supplanting other people. He had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and his father’s blessing. He had deceived his dying father Isaac. He also tried to cheat his Uncle Laban. His whole life had been one big con game until that fateful night along the banks of the Jabbok. That night he had a wrestling match with

God and God touched him. In fact, God wounded him permanently in such a way that

Jacob would never forget this encounter. God wounded him in such a way that he changed. He changed from being a deceitful person into a faithful follower of God. And

God gave him a new name—Israel—which variously means “God rules” or “he struggles with God.” Any time in the Bible, when someone gets a new name, it is a sign of a dramatic and enormous change in that person. In the New Testament, Simon Peter was called a new name. Jesus said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”

Just so, Jacob underwent this enormous change from being Jacob to being Israel, from being a conniving cheat to being a person who finally let God rule in his life.

That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. The Kingdom is God is any place and any heart in which God rules.

Now, what does all this have to do with you and me so many years later? Like

Jacob, we spend much of our lives going our own way. And then God enters into our lives in a profound way and we find ourselves wrestling with God. Sometimes the wrestling match is brief because we don’t want to renounce our autonomy. We like being in control of our lives and do not want to submit to anyone, even God. In this event, we throw in the towel early and walk away. Many Christians are like that. They want everything in life to be on their terms, even their relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong, they will show up for services, assume the appropriate posture, and mouth the familiar words of the liturgy with no great expectation of a real encounter with the object of their prayers. That’s because at some level, they aren’t prepared for a real encounter. If such a thing were to happen, there might just be a struggle between them and God for control of their lives. To them, seeking God is so much more pleasant than finding God. Seeking God can go on endlessly---a lifetime with little trouble if you plan it right. Finding God can change your life immediately and turn your world on its head. In fact, you could be wounded, as

Jacob was wounded, and never be the same again.

But for those who dare to want a real encounter with God, the wrestling match can go on for a life time. That best characterizes my relationship with God—one continuous wrestling match. Admittedly, there are times it would be so much easier to get out of the ring. There are times I grow weary of the fight and just want to quit and live my own life according to my own terms. Yes, I sometimes get weary from the struggle. But I realize that if I did throw up my hands and quit, I would not be touched— not be blessed—and changed by God. It is only in our wrestling with God that we can ever have any hope to receive His blessing.

I see in our story this morning a basic truth about life: Jacob’s newness came to him as a result of struggle. What I have discovered and what you will discover, if you have not discovered it already, is that most significant growth, most progress, comes to us also, as a result of struggle. Thank God, many of the blessings of life do not require struggle---the gift of life itself, this wonderful world with all its beauty and abundance, the love of family and friends and God---all are gifts of sheer grace, simply given to us. But growth is something else. Physical growth, intellectual growth, emotional growth, spiritual growth -

--almost all of that does not come easily. There is struggle involved.

Everyone I know is in favor of growth. No one wants to stagnate. We do want to grow in all the ways that growth is possible. At the same time, there is something in every one of us that resists growth. Growth means change. Change means risk. And risk is scary. There is something about us that, although we are in favor of growth, at the same time we like the familiar, the safe, and the tried and true. It’s like the Australian bushman who said that he liked his new boomerang well enough, but he had a hard time throwing the old one away! That’s us. We have difficulty discarding the old. We like to cuddle up with the familiar and the comfortable.

The same holds true with our relationship with God. We want an easy relationship where He is only a prayer away to provide us comfort and consolation. We don’t want to be held accountable or be answerable to God. But real faith does not come easy. True faith is typically forged in the crucible of conflict.

To many, this may seem like wasted energy and is not worth the effort. Why must there be such a struggle, especially since God, with all His power, could pin us down so very quickly? God could pin us within the blink of an eye and slam us to the mat. If God wanted to, He could make us believe and obey. But that isn’t the way God wrestles. God wrestles in such a way that we slowly surrender our lives to him. It is only in the struggle that we can hope for change. It is only in the struggle that we can hope to be touched--- wounded by God and given our new names.

Like Jacob, we all have to confront the question of change. Will we continue to be self-centered people living our lives on our own terms, or will we finally let God rule?

Will we go our own way, or will we enter the ring and cling onto God with all of our might and not let Him go until He blesses us? Who is going to rule your life? Yourself or God?

AMEN