Readings:
Genesis 32:22-31;
Psalm 121;
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5;
Luke 18:1-8

Collect:

Almighty God,
you are Creator of all and Sustainer of the universe.
You give life to the heavens and the earth,
and formed us in your own image.
So may we discern your presence in all your works,
that we may serve you with reverence and thanksgiving.
This prayer we make in the name of Jesus Christ your Son,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit supreme over all creation,
now and forever. Amen

Reflection

What’s in a name? Well, I suppose that depends. I’m told that in Australia to refer to something as Mickey Mouse is a compliment, even a sign of strength. Not one that works well here!

The story of Jacob in the Genesis reading today, Jacob is given a new name. Up till now his story is complicated and he clearly has dysfunctional family relationships. This is just what his name embodies. Jacob can simply mean heel, but with the future story in mind, his name is taken to mean “Heel-Sneak”, or perhaps “Heel-Snatcher”, or just plain “Usurper”. I’d have some difficulty introducing myself with a name like that. Just imagine: “Pleased to meet you. My name’s Usurper”. He was one of a twin and, story goes, he was born holding his brother Esau’s heel as they emerged from the womb (Gen 25:26). That was just the start. By deception, aided and abetted by his mother, he later steals Esau’s birth-right which he claims for his own. Tricky character, well deserving this name.

All change in today’s readings, his name anyway. Jacob is renamed Israel, Usurper becomes God Struggler, and what a struggle it is. He is on the road to meet his brother, and he’s nervous. Esau is coming to meet him. This was not in his plan, and the story-teller prepares us for the two brothers to confront each other, Jacob apparently making amends. We may wonder.

Jacob sends his family and possessions across the Jabbok and he’s left alone. How often it is that, left alone, we struggle. We’re told “a man” wrestled with him “until the break of dawn”. How quickly the story covers this struggle. Does it go on all night? Seems to. We’re not told, but I can imagine those long hours of combat, of seeking advantage, losing it, nearly gaining it again, and then impasse! A moment’s rest, and then the struggle continues. Stuff of modern movies. As dawn breaks, the “man” asks to be released. We wonder, “Who is this?” God would not ask to be released, surely? Yet, that name again. The “man” says that Jacob’s name is now Yisrael (Israel), “Striven-with-God”, perhaps even “God-Fighter”. I’m not sure what’s more difficult, to introduce myself as Usurper or as God-Fighter. Beneath all this is another play on the sounds of words we miss in English: Y’KB (Yaakov/Jacob), YBK(Yabbok/Jabbok) and Y’BK (wrestling/striving). Usurper crosses into the Land of Promise (the Jabbok feeds the Jordan from the Highlands) and at that place becomes God-Fighter. What a story.

This story is not only about Jacob. Generations of readers have been challenged and inspired by Jacob’s complicated relationships with others and with God … and that in order to enter the Land of Promise, he first must strive with God, and in so doing, meets God face to face, in other words, really. Now renamed, he limps away. Astonishingly, he is delighted. He has prevailed, he has survived. As I’ve been wondering about this passage, seems to me he learns, as we must all, that this is the only way to enter into God’s promise, to prevail, is to wrestle with God. We too limp away, wounded. And this place is Peniel, Face-of-God, meeting God face to face, and really living.

Barry Lotz