8th Sunday after Pentecost, August 3, 2014

Hebrew Bible: Genesis 32:22-31 

The same night he 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, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Reflections:  Today we hear another story of Jacob’s encounters with God. He had been running for his life because he had angered his brother. Jacob had slept rough in the wilderness. He had a dream: a ladder reaching to heaven. When he woke up, he realized that God was present with him even though he had not known it.

Here again, Jacob is in the wilderness; here again, he is alone, in the dark, and afraid; he can’t sleep. A line from one of last week’s hymns (615) speaks to this: “But the slow watches of the night not less to God belong.”

How often do we find ourselves in a similar situation? Devoured by anxiety, loneliness, fear? It feels far from the comfort of God. Perhaps we pray for God resolve our problems, to take them away. But we are not told that God fixed Jacob’s problems. If we have read further, we know that he finds ways to try to buy off his brother because he is still afraid to meet him.

If the story doesn't reassure us that God will take our troubles away, what does it tell us? For one thing, Jacob discovers God—and receives divine blessing--in the midst of the struggle. In this story, he doesn't find God by escaping the distressing realities of his life, but through engaging them.