Pentecost 19

a. Last week we all got to know one another so I will skip and introductions except to say. MY am Fr. Andrew Costa and if you would like to connect after the service I would love to shake your hand.

b. Last week our text reminded us that those who are not of the family of God become members of the family of God by faith alone, thought grace alone. This week we remember that even those of the household of God, those of us with faith wrestle with the God who give faith, and that wrestling brings us into closer fellowship with him.

c. When the economic downturn of 2009 hit, I was shaken loose from what I thought was my dream job. It was my first Job and I didn’t realize that it was unhealthy, my relationship to it and what it was asking of me. So I remember being hurt and confused. I wanted to be in ministry as my main career and my ministry role had come to an end which landed me in banking and insurance where I was competent but out of my passion. And there began the wrestling with God about what would be next. And God answered, but he first had to bring me face to face with some hard truths about myself and my skill set.

d. Even in the last weeks as we have shut down the church plant and contemplated what is next, there has been a lot of wrestling with God and hardship that can come with that.

e. I imagine that many of you have been through hard seasons, wrestling with God, having God show you through pain the truth of a matter. Maybe that season for you is right now. And I hope that the Holy Scripture would be a comfort for you in this time.

II. The Text

i. Today’s text tells us about Jacob. Jacob plays a huge role in the book of Genesis having much column inches devoted to him and his life. He was a younger twin who was born holding his brother’s ankle. He swindled his brother out of his birthright. He tricked his blind father into giving his the first born’s birthright. He had to fight his Uncle to let him mary his wife. All of Jacobs life he was trying to get something from someone, and not always something that should be his and he does so by being shrewd by being dishonest and by being persistent.

ii. In our account today he His brother has caught up with him with 400 men and Jacob is sure his brother is going to kill him.

b. [22] The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

i. This is the very entrance of the Holy Land in the north. He is escaping his Uncle who he was sideways with over his Dowry and the only place he has to flee is the Holy Land where his brother who mad at him is. Since 400 men are about to descend on him to kill him. He leaves his wives and other (Slaves) behind for their safety.

c.  [23] He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.

i. Everything else he has because he had sent the majority of his wealth in animals ahead a bribe to his brother.

d. [24] And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

i. He was alone and then he was not he wrestles a man. And we are quickly going to discover this is no mere man but God showing up as a human. God does this from time to time in the Old Testament.  

e. [25] When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

i. God as he wrestled Jacob wrestled Jacob at Jacobs ability. And Jacob throughout the OT proves to be a strong man, he is not a weakling. But what is the strength of any man compared to God.

ii. But God sees that Jacob intends to win this just like he has won in the past through grit and determination. Still after the broken hip he will not let up

f. [26] Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

i. The day will soon break and when the darkness lifts Jacob will see the face of God. And no one can see the face of God and live. Jacob knows what’s happening here, he knows what is at stake and yet he will not release.

1. He wrestled his brother in the womb, he wrestled way his brothers birthright, his dads blessing, his wives his wealth. Each time he prevailed by his own strength and yet none of this has left him satisfied

2. But now he has the one, God in the flesh he has wrestled, he can’t win. God merely touched his leg and shattered it. But God has the thing he has fought his life for…the blessing of God.

g. [27] And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

h. [28] Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

i. He goes for Jacob meaning heal-holder, or maybe wrestles with man, to Israel, wrestles with God. God changes the essence of who Jacob is, give him an identity not based on his own wit and power, but on how God sees him.

i. [29] 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.

i. God has the power over Jacobs name but it is not true the other way around.

ii. God gives Jacob that things for which he has searched his whole life. We don’t know what God said in the blessing but we can see that God blessed him.

1. Not without struggle, not without pain, not without Jacob coming to the end of himself. And then when Jacob could not long win by his own power God blesses him.

j. [30] So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (ESV)

i. No one should see the face of God and live, and yet God is his mercy allows this for Jacob. He has been given something that money can’t but, and it cost him everything.

III. Applications

a. Faith alone means that we are trusting in God when all other things. I used to have one friend who would quote to me over and over again, God helps those who help themselves. God helps the helpless, the ones with nowhere else to go. Who knows, maybe God is waiting for you to let go and acknowledge the solution lies with him and not in your own efforts?

b. God changes us at our essence se do not change God. God took Jacob, he who grasps heals, and made him Israel, he who wrestles with God. God is interested in making new things out of us. He does it at our baptism where the water buries the old use and we rise to new life. But even after, God is making us citizens of heaven one small move at a time. Those who have walked with God for a long time can look back and see the transforming work of God.

i. Romans 12:2 Paul encourages, “No longer be conformed, but be transformed.

ii. It is the grace of God that transforms us.

c. Those who have seen the face of God dance for Joy, and walk with a limp. Jacob limped the rest of his life, and yet in that same event found what he was looking for with God. Many of us here who know the joys of fellowship with God know that it came with a limp. Where God showed up in our deepest pain, and our pain leave behind a residue. We limp, but we know the joy of our heavenly father.  

IV. Invitation: Last week we looked at the Gospel lesson about the faith of the Leper and how it made a foreigner into a member of God’s family. This week we are looking at the Old Testament Reading but let me show you the connection to the gospel text. In the Gospel Jesus tells us that a bad judge can be convinced by a persistent widow. He wants to remind us that God who is a good judge will also answer our fervent prayers. Jacob brought to God his fervent persistent prayer. He wrestled with God all night. He kept holding on even after God destroys his hip. He pleads with God to bless him. Today I invite you to plead with God, but also know that those who have wrestled with God dance for joy and walk with a limp.