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Last updated on
Oct. 26, 2005
The Healing Defeat
Delivered August 7, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Genesis 32:22-31
Main Idea: In grace God sometimes challenges and confronts us, even "wounds" us, in order to transform us for the better.
Purpose: To encourage the listeners that even in the midst of our struggles God's enduring word to us is a word of grace. To challenge the listeners to "wrestle with God" in prayer.
Introduction: Struggle: Today we will conclude our series of sermons on the Old Testament character Jacob. We've seen that his life has been a story of struggle. He struggled with his twin brother Esau in their mother Rebekah's womb before they were even born. We've seen that he struggle later continued outside of the womb. As a young man Jacob skilfully extracted the birthright from his older twin, and some time afterward Jacob also tricked his father into giving him Esau's blessing. Esau became enraged and uttered murderous threats against his brother, which caused Jacob to flee for his life. We've seen that Jacob ended up far away at his Uncle Laban's place, with whom he had 20 years of ongoing conflict. He worked seven years for Laban in order to marry Rachel, but Laban then tricked this trickster into marrying the wrong daughter, and Jacob then had to work seven more years for Rachel. This was followed by six more years of dispute concerning wage agreements.
In today's reading we hear that Jacob entered into in some ways was surely was the greatest struggle of all. For Jacob ended up in an all-night wrestling match with a man whom come morning he considered to be no one less than God himself. This story is one of the best known in the Old Testament, and it has become an archetypical story of struggle. It is a reminder to all of God's people that life involves struggle, even in our relationship with God. Throughout our lives we will all face struggles of various types, and some of us have undoubtedly brought to worship this morning various struggles which we face. We may struggle with financial problems; we may have a business venture that is not doing well; we may be struggling with grief and loss; we may struggle with loneliness; or we may be struggling with strained or broken relationships.
There is good news in this story for us: it teaches us that God offers grace to those who struggle. But sometimes God's grace comes in very surprising ways. In this case God's grace comes in the form of a showdown which God himself initiated.
Context: But before we look closer at that battle, it is helpful to put the story in context. It is very important to see that Jacob's encounter with God happened as he was finally on the way home and, of course, on the way toward his estranged brother Esau. The two had had no communication since Jacob fled for his life. The larger story makes it clear that Jacob was very much afraid to see Esau again. Especially when the messengers whom he had sent to prepare the way told him that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men! This distressed Jacob greatly, so he divided his family and all of his possessions into two separate groups. This way if Esau ambushed him, at least half of the company stood a reasonable chance of escape. But then Jacob also prayed to God, which was very unusual for this schemer who was so accustomed to taking matters into his own hands. But remember too that God has slowly been transforming him. He prayed to God for deliverance from the hand of Esau. He reminded God of the promises God had made to him, promises of safe homecoming, promises of offspring so numerous that they could not be counted.
This prayer was a remarkable step forward for Jacob. It showed his trust in God was growing. But Jacob still clung to some of his old ways. For the very next thing he did was to devise a plan whereby he could appease his brother. He arranged for his servants to send Esau a progressive series of gifts in order to assuage his anger. First they were to deliver goats to Esau, then sheep, then camels, then cows and finally donkeys. It was a clever strategy clearly designed to wear Esau down. So all of these gifts passed on ahead of Jacob. And it was on that very night that he had his confrontation with God.
It took place by the ford of the Jabbok. Jacob sent his family and his possessions across the stream, but he remained on the far side by himself, and alone. And then, very abruptly, the next thing we hear is that a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
Wrestling with God: Something very important is going on here. Before Jacob can meet and reconcile with his brother, he first has to meet with God. The two meetings are levels of a single event. This is a profound truth–before Jacob can truly be put into a right relationship with his brother, he first has to sort things out in his relationship with God. Jacob hadn't exactly lived a perfect life up to this point. This truth extends to all of the struggles we face in life. If we are truly to navigate our way safely through life's difficulties, it is so much better if things are right between us and God.
But that truth has another level in this situation, for it seems it was actually God himself who initiated this engagement. At first we simply hear that a "man" wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. But after the encounter Jacob marvelled saying, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The identity of this man is a rather intriguing question, but Jacob is convinced that he was no one less than God. The text itself seems to support his conclusion. So do later OT writings. For example, the prophet Hosea describes the nocturnal visitor once as an angel but once as God himself, stating that "in his manhood Jacob strove with God, he strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor; he met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him. The Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his name!" (Hosea 12:3b-5). But why did God do it? Why did he accost Jacob under the dark cover of night?
The text doesn't give us any direct answer. But certainly we can say that God had a lesson for Jacob to learn. When Jacob was exposed to a situation that was wholly beyond him, to an apparent army of 400 warriors marching in step upon his little clan, this is when God chose to get Jacob's attention. It is often when we are at our most vulnerable that God is able to get through to us. Could this not be one very significant reason why God sometimes allows us to have to struggle? In this situation God did so in a very dramatic way. God doesn't always act that dramatically, but God will do whatever it takes to get our attention in order that we may be reconciled to him and know his blessing.
The struggle between God and Jacob is hardly described in this story. All we know is that it lasted all night, and that the mysterious stranger disappeared before he would be exposed by the light of day. A great wonder in the story is the fact that Jacob held his ground in this contest, at least up to a point. For we read that his mysterious assailant saw that he was not prevailing against Jacob. But then he tapped into a reserve of power and struck Jacob on his hip socket, knocking Jacob's hip out of joint. This ended the physical sparring match, which was replaced by a verbal one. "Let me go," said the man, "for the day is breaking." "No," said Jacob. "I will not let you go until you bless me." Then the man asked Jacob his name, and said: "From now on you will no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Jacob then tried to turn the tables and asked the man his name. But he didn't give it. Instead he blessed Jacob, and then disappeared from the scene. As the sun rose, Jacob left the field of battle with a limp.
Changed by the Encounter: There are so many different directions we can take as we examine this encounter. Please forgive me if there are questions or aspects of this text which I don't cover. For there are so many treasures to be mined here. And there are many mysteries to wonder about. But for our purposes it is important to stress that Jacob was changed by this encounter. He certainly did not leave the scene untarnished. For starters, he hobbled away from this wrestling ring, and he may well have carried his limp with him for the rest of his life. In this sense he lost the wrestling match, for his sparring partner left uninjured. But if Jacob was defeated in the struggle, it was a healing defeat. For he was also changed in other wonderful ways. First of all, he left the Jabbok a blessed man, and this was a blessing he didn't have to cheat or deceive anyone to get. This blessing was untarnished, both in the taking and in the giving of it. He also left with a new name, Israel, which of course became the name of God's chosen people. It was pure grace that the name of God's people came from Jacob rather than Abraham or Isaac. And a final transformation was that Jacob/ Israel left empowered for a new day, ready to face his brother Esau. And the very next thing we learn is that, after the stranger had left, Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming. And much to his overwhelming relief, Esau ran up to meet him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. It was a beautiful meeting, but once again, before it occurred Jacob had to endure the frightening encounter with God.
There is a tremendous lesson here for us concerning the struggles we encounter in life. The eye of faith doesn't view struggle as something necessarily negative at all. Rather, faith recognizes that God can and does work through our struggles to transform us. God in fact sometimes directly initiates us in struggle. Why? Because God sometimes has to deal with us before we can receive his full blessings, even if it means challenging us to a duel. Like Jacob we may even leave our encounter with God with some sort of an injury. But the great comfort we can have in the midst of our struggles is this: that God's dealing with is an act of grace. God doesn't challenge us in order to do us ultimate harm. It is rather in the midst of struggle that we develop character and are transformed. And even the injuries we sustain can benefit us. For God wants to rub away our rough edges in order to polish into gems of great beauty.
Surely the main way in which God "injures" us today is to attack our strong sense of pride. For as long as we like Jacob presume that we have all it takes to succeed in life, and as long as we lean on our own strategies in order to achieve success, and fail to depend upon God, then we cannot know the riches of God's abundant blessings. If God injures us it is only to teach us humility and our need to depend fully upon him.
Weakness and Power: In his commentary Walter Brueggemann uses this text to speak about a theology of weakness and power. He writes that there is a weakness in power, that is, if it is our own power. Jacob discovered that many times in his own life. When he tried to use his own strength to gain blessing and advantage, he succeeded in one sense, but it was a success that ruptured the most important relationships in his life. But the flip side of this teaching is that there is power in weakness. Jacob also discovered this. When he faced Esau with his weakness, with his limp, with no more tricks and none of his own resources that could protect him, then God in his power blessed him with a beautiful reconciliation.
This same theology of weakness in power and power in weakness is prominent in the New Testament, and especially in the teaching of the cross. When Jesus was engaged in his greatest struggle, when he was wounded and injured and dying, at that same time he was the most powerful, and accomplished on the cross all that was necessary for our salvation. The apostle Paul carried forward this theme. On one occasion he appealed to his Lord three times to remove what he called a thorn in his flesh, only to have Jesus say to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Then Paul added: "So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
Power is made perfect in weakness–there could not be a concept that runs more contrary to the way the world thinks. When we are weak, then we are strong. Why? For when we are weak, and are willing to acknowledge our weakness, it is then that we turn to God to seek the blessing only God can give. Just like Jacob did after his hip was dislocated and he said "I will not let you go unless you bless me." It was a very bold prayer, but it was also a humble prayer, for Jacob had come to realize that he truly needed God's blessing in his life. When we humble ourselves, acknowledge our weakness, and tenaciously seek God's blessing in prayer, then the power of Christ is able to dwell in us.
Conclusion: Grace: And so in the end we see that the story of God assailing Jacob in the dead of night is ultimately a story of grace, even if this message comes to us in a most unusual form through a very cryptic encounter. The New Testament contains a more familiar story of grace, Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. It is very interesting to note that Jesus certainly seems to model the Father's response to the prodigal son upon Esau's response to Jacob. Both Esau and the father come running to a family member who doesn't deserve any kindness. And both embrace the prodigals in their lives by throwing their arms around them and kissing them. This teaches us that in the midst of our struggles with God and with ourselves that God's desire is to bless us and to speak an enduring word of grace to us. The blessing may leave us with an injury, with a limp or with a wounded pride, but that "defeat" is ultimately intended for our healing. God didn't engage Jacob in order to destroy him, but in order to transform him. Through it all Jacob learned who he was, and he learned that God accepted and blessed him anyway.
Therefore when we encounter struggle, as we most surely will, let us not give in to discouragement, but rather let us seek God's blessing in the midst of it, and be open to learn whatever lesson God may have to teach us. And one of God's most common lessons in our various struggles is to point out our weaknesses, to teach us that we cannot live an abundant life on our own, apart from depending on our Lord. Therefore let us rejoice in our weakness, for when we are weak, then we are strong. It may hurt when God holds a mirror in front of us and shows us our weaknesses and flaws. But that hurt will soon turn to joy when we realize that God accepts us nonetheless, and that God's plans and intentions for us are only good, even as they were for Jacob. For God engages us as we are, and God names us, and God preserves us through our struggles in order to bless us and to transform us into people of great beauty, and into vessels fit for use in his kingdom. Praise be to God for his marvellous ways! Amen.