Alone again, Naturally (Sermon for COSS 2011)

Before he was even born, Jacob was a wrestler. He wrestled with his brother, his twin, in his mother’s womb. His very name “Jacob” means “he grabs.”  Bill Power like to call Esau and Jacob, “Hairy” and “Grabby.”  As Jacob is born he is holding on to his brother’s heel, as if to say “me first.”

Maybe that is why I identify with Jacob; my mother tells me that my favorite phrase as a three year old was “me first.”  And I struggle with things. I wrestle with people, with situations, with God.

When I say it that way—that I wrestle—it almost sounds noble. But when I remember that Jacob, the wrestler,  is “Grabby” it sounds less noble.

Jacob grabbed brother Esau’s birthright, he grabbed Esau’s blessing.  Abraham and Isaac’s family was to be the avenue through which God would bring blessing to all the families of the earth.  But Jacob couldn’t even share hospitality and blessing with his own hungry brother.  He is not a fitting person to carry the covenant.

And so, because he is one who grabs, Jacob is separated from his brother.  Jacob is a “momma’s boy.” He is very close to his mother.  But because his mother aided him in his grabbing, he is separated from her and from his father as well.

Over time, Jacob gains four wives.  But he is tricked by his father-in-law into marrying 3 of them.  He loves Rachel and works hard for her. But just as Jacob has deceived his own father, Laban deceives Jacob. And out of this deceit comes a bitter and competitive relationship between the sisters.

Eventually the deceit practiced by Jacob against his father-in-law leads to Jacob needing to leave and go back home.  So he is separated from the family that he has lived with for 21 years.  And his wives are separated from their family as well.

Jacob is coming back home and he is afraid of his brother—with good reason.  He makes plans to bribe his brother.  He plans for the possibility that Esau will attack him.  He reminds God of God’s promise and he brags to God that he has much more than when he last met God.  He begs God to save him from his brother.  And then he makes plans to save himself.

And finally we come to the text for today.  And we find that in this moment, Jacob no longer has a brother, no longer has father and mother, no longer has wives, no longer has children. Jacob is alone.

Everything Jacob has grabbed is gone and it is in that moment that this man (is it God?) comes and wrestles with the wrestler.

Jacob has grabbed for everything he has.  But now he grabs for the one thing that he really needs—he grabs for God.  And yet the irony is that the blessing he so desperately wants to grab from God is already his.  It has been his all along.  He has not needed to grab for anything.

And in the end, though Jacob won the wrestling match, God has won the battle.  Jacob is able to receive the forgiveness of his brother and finally understands that this is a gift.  He is restored to his brother, restored to his mother and father, restored to his wives and children.

My dear friends, when we try to grab blessing for ourselves we are not able to fulfill our calling to be a blessing.  Instead we destroy relationships with those we love.  We find ourselves alone.    We feel embattled by our congregations, we think we have to wrestle with the district superintendent or “the system”.   But we need to remember the story of Jacob.

We do not have to remind God of God’s promises to us.  God reminds us that we don’t have to grab what God has freely given—his Son for our sake.  We can stop wrestling because on the cross, God has wrestled with sin and suffering and death.  And in the resurrection of Jesus, God has won the victory over them all.

Jacob received a new name.  And so have we.  1 Peter 2:9   But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And so, People of God, my challenge today for you is this:  Give up grabbing, stop wrestling, claim the name of Jesus and proclaim the mighty acts of God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.