Holy Ghost Stories, part 2

Genesis 32:22-32

So this is Sunday two of our “Holy Ghost Stories” series, and today we’re going to treat this like a “throw back Thursday”, as the sermon comes from Genesis.  Today we will take a closer look at the events that unfolded when Jacob met the Spirit of God face to face, and lived to tell the tale.

Before we do that, since this is a story that’s not often discussed, I want to take a bit and set the scene and rediscover our characters.  Everyone remembers Abraham (Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham…and you’re welcome for getting that song stuck in your head the rest of the day).  Abraham and Sarah had one child together named Isaac.  Isaac was unique in many ways; he was born to his parents later (much, much later) in their lives, his father nearly sacrificed him, his name was never changed, and he only had one wife that he was loyal to, named Rebekah.  Isaac and Rebekah had twins, Esau and Jacob. 

During her pregnancy, Rebekah had been told by God that she would, indeed, be giving birth to twins and that each of them would found a great nation; she was also told that Esau, the elder, would serve his younger brother.  That’s really a reversal of events, isn’t it?  Even in today’s culture being the elder sibling carries with it certain rights, responsibilities, and blessings; but it was more so in their day.  A little more on that in a bit.

It’s not common for siblings to not really get along.  I’m the oldest of three boys and we can go long periods of time without speaking, usually over something trivial.  Every set of siblings I know are like this, but deep down, the love is there and in crisis we’d set aside everything to run to the others.  Jacob and Esau, though, theirs was a tough relationship from the get-go.  When it came time for the twins to be born, Esau was first.  We’re told when he arrives he’s red all over and covered in hair.  But then, the strangest thing happens.  The twins didn’t arrive completely separate; Jacob came right after Esau, and was delivered while he had a firm grip on Esau’s heel.  We know from descriptions that Esau grew into this big meat-head of a guy who hunted and worked the field, while Jacob was a little more bookish, hanging near the tents and never venturing out.  Esau was Isaac’s favorite, and Jacob was Rebekah’s. 

One day while Esau was out working the land and hunting and trapping and doing his Esau things, Jacob was in the kitchen stirring up a yummy pot of lentil stew.  Esau comes in the kitchen and proclaims he’s “so hungry he is literally about to die”, and asks Jacob for a bowl of that yummy lentil stew (or as it’s literally in the text, “that red stuff”…and if you’ve ever had lentil stew, that’s pretty accurate).  Jacob says sure…I’ll trade you your eldest’s birthright for it.  Esau, who is actually convinced that he is so hungry he is surely going to die if he doesn’t get to eat some of that red stuff, figures his birthright is no good to him if he’s dead, so he makes the deal.  Birthright of the eldest son for red stew doesn’t seem fair.  The eldest son received a double portion of the riches from the father and became the leader of the family.  So Jacob really came out way ahead on this!  And this type of oral contract is as binding as a notarized deal in our day.  Agreeing and proclaiming simply made it so.

But there was one thing his brother couldn’t swindle his brother out of:  the blessing.  The eldest’s blessing. 

As Isaac grew older his eyesight began to fail, and the end began to draw near.  At this time, he called for Esau, his oldest son, and asked him to take his gear and hunt wild game, and make for him a meal of the delicious food so that he may bless Esau.  Rebekah, knowing this, devised a plan with her favorite son to trick Isaac to bestow the eldest’s blessing on Jacob instead of Esau, since that was something that couldn’t be bartered or transferred because it had to come directly from Isaac.  So while Esau was out hunting, Rebekah puts Esau’s clothes on Jacob and covers his arms with goat hide (since, without his eyesight, Isaac’s hands have become the way he sees the world and he would surely touch the arms and hands of his son).  So Rebekah made the delicious food Isaac so wanted and Jacob was successful in tricking Isaac into bestowing the blessing on him, which means Esau got nothing.  Well, he did get a “secondary” blessing, but it wasn’t near as nice as the one that was rightfully his.

So Esau is mad, and he is plotting to kill his brother.  So Rebekah sends Jacob away and he meets a girl named Rachel, who is the daughter of his uncle (yeah, I know).  Laban, the uncle, promises Jacob Rachel’s hand in marriage but tricks him into marrying Rachel’s younger sister, Leah, who had “delicate eyes”, we’re told.  This after he worked, for free, for his uncle, for 7 years, so he could marry his hot cousin.  But he got duped and got the not so hot younger cousin.  So he worked 7 more years for Rachel, and now he has two wives…two sister wives.  And they have kids, one of whom is Joseph, who had a really beautiful coat.

And it came the time that Jacob should leave Laban’s land and return home; the home where Esau still resides.  He sends word on ahead to his brother, basically begging him not to kill him and let him come home, and if you read in depth this is actually a bribe to save the his own life…because they had never really reconciled the whole birthright and blessing thing, remember.

So Jacob sends his wives, children, and belongings on ahead while he stays behind and we’re up to date.  While apart by himself, we know that it’s night, and he is praying.  He is praying and he is reminding God of all the promises God has made to him over the years.  He’s trying to bargain with God.  And then, he encounters a “man”…a physical being, with whom he wrestles until dawn.  We see that the being realizes that he can’t defeat Jacob, so he hits him with a low blow to incapacitate him.  Different translations differ and Bible scholars are not of one mind regarding the injury brought upon Jacob.  Some insist that the being pulled Jacob’s hip out of socket; others are adamant that the large muscle in his thigh was torn.  Either way, we see that it caused the wrestling to stop which is what the being wanted, because it was near dawn was near and that’s a big deal to this “man”.  We don’t know why, but it is. 

This injury, I’m sure, stopped Jacob in his tracks.  Has anyone here ever had a broken or fractured hip?  Back when I had my surgery in 2017, they had to take some bone from my hip to do some bone grafting work in my chest.  So as they were harvesting , we didn’t realize that years of steroids had really taken their toll and in an instant, my left hip fractured.  So while one surgeon was working up top, now I had a different surgeon working a hair lower.  When I woke up, I can vividly remember not being able to decide where to focus and complain about…my chest or my hip.  For a long while I walked with a walker, then a cane, and finally I was able to stand and move about on my own accord, albeit with a discernable limp.  Even now if I’ve done a lot of walking, or standing, or if there’s a change in the weather, I will have pain in it, and if you pay close enough attention I still have an intermittent limp. 

Back to our story.  It isn’t clear in the beginning, but we are about to see exactly who Jacob was wrestling with.  Jacob insists on receiving a blessing from the being before he will let the being go (it seems that Jacob is a real hoarder of these blessings).  The being asked for Jacob’s name, then blessed Jacob with a new name; he shall now be called Israel, for, and listen closely, for you have wrestled with God, and you have prevailed.

Jacob had wrestled with God. 

Jacob, the underdog; Jacob, the second born; Jacob, the trickster; Jacob, the deceiver; Jacob, who came into the world wrestling. 

Jacob walked away from his encounter with God a drastically changed person, in more ways than one.  He has a limp, he has a new name, and he has been blessed by God On High. 

Sometimes our journey isn’t a pleasant one.  We have good times, and we have bad times.  There are things we want, and sometimes we use less than honest means of attaining what we desire.  Then, sometimes we want something so bad that we allow others to take advantage of us, exploiting our aspiration.  You and I are more like Jacob than we might want to admit, and like Jacob, it’s likely that some of our encounters with God have been less than pleasant.

Have you ever wrestled with God?  I have.  I have on more than one occasion.  There’s been many times when I wish God would simply come to me because physically wrestling would be easier than the emotional, mental, and spiritual wrestling .  And you know what?  It’s ok to wrestle with God. 

When we wrestle with God, we too come away changed, often in ways that are visible to others (like, Jacob’s limp). 

Sometimes we experience God as a physical touch.  Sometimes it’s a saving hand.  Sometimes it’s a wrestling match.  This week, engage with God, and wrestle if you must.  The Spirit of God will do whatever it takes to get through to us, and change us.  Thanks be to God.