A New Character

Introduction

Genesis 32:22–32 NRSV

22 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. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 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. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 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.” 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. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Have you ever been together with a new group of people before? Maybe it was for work, or school, or some other event. A group of strangers gather together and either someone immediately starts asking everyone what their name is, or someone else instructs your group to do so.

At first it is pretty easy, go around and introduce yourselves by telling everyone your name. So, pretty quickly, everyone goes around and says,

“Hi, my name is [insert name here].”

Once the group has finished its introductions, usually someone will say, “now tell everyone one interesting fact about you.” To some this comes easy, and to others it’s a pretty difficult request.

The more extroverted people quickly rattle off some interesting fact about themselves, while the introverted people stew over the numerous facts about themselves, wondering which one is the most interesting.

If you’re anything like me you spend too much time trying to figure which fact you want to say. I think, “well some of these people might find this fact more interesting than that one” and this train of thought goes on for quite some time. Finally I’ll settle on some fact about myself. If I’m in a group setting where my being a pastor would seem abnormal, that’s usually the fact I use. If I’m with a bunch of pastors or church people then I usually find something a bit different.

But, no matter who you are in these scenarios you know that telling people your name and an interesting fact about yourself is something that breaks down some walls and can lead to people being more vulnerable with one another, especially if you are someone who shares too much personal information with someone too quickly, like a friend of mine who responds to the “where are you from” questions with, “well since my parents divorced and I grew up in a split home...”

In our Scripture for this morning we read about a moment of vulnerability among many moments of strength. But we will get to that in a moment.

Today’s Scripture focuses on Jacob who, as you know, becomes Israel. Before we dive in anymore, it’s important that you understand what goes on before all of this, you have to understand more about Jacob.

Jacob, his story, and the change.

Jacob is the son of Isaac and Rebekah. Rebekah became pregnant with twins, Jacob and his brother Esau. Esau was the first of the twins to be born, and right behind him was Jacob, who was named “Jacob” because he was holding onto the heel of Esau. Jacob’s name holds a meaning, it means either “heel grabber” or “supplanter.” Jacob’s action is often interpreted as one in which Jacob was trying to prevent Esau from being born first, in a time where the firstborn received the privilege.

Even before they were born they were pitted against one another. The LORD told Rebekah

Genesis 25:23 NRSV

23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

We are immediately told that Isaac loved Esau, while Rebekah loved Jacob. We aren’t told that they favored one over the other, or even liked one more than the other, but LOVED one over the other. As you can imagine this probably created quite a bit of tension in the home growing up.

While Esau was out working in the field one day, Jacob was inside making a stew. When Esau came in he demanded to be fed. Jacob, quick on his feet, said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau argued a bit but finally conceded and sold Jacob his birthright. He gave up an eternal promise for the satisfaction of the here and now.

Later in the lives of Jacob and Esau we find an old and dying Isaac in bed. He instructs Esau to go out and hunt for some food, then to come back with that food and feed it to him, that way Isaac could give Esau his blessing. This would have been a special blessing, one that gave the firstborn the rights to inheritance. It would be a great blessing, one of importance, but through deception and lies, Jacob was given the blessing while Esau was still out hunting. Upon finding this out, Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and look, not he has taken away my blessing.” Then we are told, “Now Esau hated Jacob.” We then find out that Esau plans on killing Jacob. Upon hearing this, Jacob flees.

Years pass by, Jacob ends up marrying Rachel and Leah as we read about last week (Gen 29:15-30) He grows his family and spends fourteen years working for Laban.

All of this time passes, experiences happen, growth occurs, and you have to wonder if Jacob began feeling guilt for how he acted towards Esau all of those years ago. So, in an attempt to make peace with him, Jacob sends out messengers to Esau. The messengers return to Jacob and inform him that Esau is indeed coming to meet him, with 400 men at his side! We are told that Jacob was “greatly afraid and distressed.”

Jacob begins sending out all that he has to Esau, hoping to subdue the rage that Esau was surely feeling. Feeling all of this, Jacob enters into prayer in Genesis 32:9-12. In this prayer we can see just how much distress Jacob was in. Let’s read it.

Genesis 32:9–12 NRSV

9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12 Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”

After praying, Jacob sends all that he has to Esau. After sending them all he spends the night at the camp that he was at. During that same night is where our Scripture picks up today. He finally sends out his wives, maids, children and departs from them. He returns to his camp, alone, worrying and praying fervently about the gifts he sent and the eventual meeting he would have with Esau.

In 32:24 we are told that Jacob was alone and then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. We are not given a timeline here, we have no idea if it was immediate upon Jacob’s return, or after much time. But, nonetheless, the man comes.

Now, we don’t know who exactly this man is, but in Hosea 12:3-5 we find out a bit more. It says,

Hosea 12:3–5 NRSV

3 In the womb he tried to supplant his brother, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor; he met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him. 5 The Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his name!

So, Esau wrestles with God all night, yet Jacob does not succumb. His faith in God is not shaken, nor is his prayer about his meeting with his brother broken. Jacob wrestles and wrestles, and then God touches his hip and his hip was put out of joint. But Jacob STILL wrestles with God! He still puts up a fight.

Finally, they speak.

The man requests that Jacob let him go.

This request shows us that Jacob was in control. He MUST let the man leave.

Jacob, knowing that this man was divine, responds to this request by asking for a blessing. He knew that this man was not ordinary; the power, strength, and resistance he felt was unlike anything else he had ever faced. He was persistent in prayer, now he wanted the blessing.

So, the man asks Jacob what his name is.

This is the part, right here, where Jacob has decide whether or not he truly wants a blessing. Admitting his name to the man not only being a bit vulnerable, it meant being completely vulnerable. Jacob’s very name was not just a title to be called by, but it described his failings. It was a name that screamed to anyone who heard it “second place, non favored, less than...” It was a shameful name.

But, Jacob longs for the blessing, so he admits that his name is Jacob.

Genesis 32:28 NRSV

28 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.”

At this moment something amazing happens to Jacob, he is changed.

Everything about him changes.

He leaves with a permanent limp, and a new permanent name.

His name being changed from Jacob to Israel isn’t as lackluster as getting your name legally changed on your Social Security card, it comes directly from God.

And, we must remember how important names are in that near-eastern culture.

Biblical names could mean a variety of things (adapted from get.bible):

Biblical names point to particular aspects of a person’s life.

Biblical names could be an expression of the parent’s reaction to the birth of the child.

Biblical names may secure family ties.

Biblical names may be a reflection of God’s message for/to an individual.

Biblical names showed an affiliation to God.

Biblical names are given to establish authority over another, or to indicate a new beginning or new direction in a person’s life.

These Biblical names that we read mean more than just what we read at face value. They are determined by a person’s character, life, connection to God. It’s an incredibly important aspect.

So, in being given a new name, such as Israel (meaning “someone who has struggled with God and men). The very fact that this name was given to Jacob, and he was limping, but alive, proved that he struggled against God and survived!

Now known as Israel, his past life was gone, it was forgotten. From this point forward his name was no longer shameful, riddled with past mistakes. His new name, Israel, displayed to the world that a change had happened. It showed courage, strength, perseverance, and obviously a close connection and relationship with God.

With this, we are given a new character to read about. The character of Israel.

Our Change

It’s incredibly important to read Jesus into the entirety of the Scriptures. As I was reading about Jacob’s transition to Israel I thought to myself, “How does this relate to Jesus?”

As I thought more and more about it, and as I prayed over these words, I realized something incredible: just like Jacob, we have been given a new identity, we’ve become a new character through Christ!

Before any of us knew who Jesus was we were slaves to sin and to death. We bowed down to the powers of wickedness, to evil, to vile ways of living. We lived for ourselves, pushing others to the side. We watched as people struggled and said, “Man, I’m glad that isn’t me.” We thought only of ourselves, looked inward only, did everything we could to get by no matter who it hurt. Our lives were filled with lying, cheating, stealing, gossip, slander, sexual immoralities. It was riddled with deception, decay and utter chaos. Before Christ, our lives showed the world a separation between us and God.

But, then things changed. Much like Jacob, we wrestled. We wrestled with our lives, our families, our friends, ourselves and with God. We were challenged by the Spirit, convicted to the core. Maybe God spoke to you and brought you out, or you saw how a fellow Christian was living and it inspired you, or maybe you hit a point so low in your life that you had no where else to go. Through it you were beaten, tried, and given a limp.

However, the grace of God prevailed it all. The grace of God made for the Son, Jesus, to come and dwell amongst men, women, and children. Jesus lived the Law perfectly, taught about grace, love, peace, and kindness. Jesus took on the very punishment that we all deserved. He bore the pain, death, and suffering that had our names on it.

And through that we were freed.

But, the ultimate freedom came to us when we recognized these truths, and decided to allow our old selves to die. It came to us when we did as Luke 9:23 says, when we “denied ourselves and took up the cross daily” and we followed Jesus. At that moment, we became someone new.

Like Israel, when we came in contact with God we were changed. We died to our old selves and became someone new. Yes, we still sin and fall short of the glory of God, but who we are holds so much more meaning than ever before.

As followers of Jesus we are no longer the vile, wicked, and evil people that we once were…we are forgiven and redeemed. Our very being changes. Who we are changes, and we become someone brand new.

Israel was given a fresh start, newness, change, and a way to leave behind all of that which he did wrong in his past. And through Christ, we are given that same change and chance for newness.

What this means is that we cannot take on the love and grace of Jesus and remain the same. To do so would contradict God, and that cannot be done. When we truly believe in Jesus, when we are truly transformed through His grace, we CANNOT possibly remain the same.

As always, we need to look at ourselves, our lives, how we live. We need to reflect on how we engage the world around us, how we talk to and about other people. We need to constantly ask ourselves, “Am I showing the love of Christ to the world, or am I still being my old self?”

When Jacob walked away from that encounter as Israel, everything about him changed, and no one could deny it. There was no mistaking that he was a changed man because of God.

But, can the same be said about you?

Does the world around us see a reflection of Christ in you, or do they see your old self, still stuck in bondage and slavery to sin and death?

Who we are after an encounter with Christ, especially the one that saves us, should be completely different from who we were. If that isn’t the case, then maybe you haven’t truly encountered the saving Christ Jesus.

It’s time for us to become a new character. It’s time for us to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It’s time for us to strip away our old selves, to stop being Jacob, and become Israel.

Amen.