Readings: Genesis 32.22-31; 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5; Luke 18.1-8
We all enjoy a good story! Downton is back on our tellies, and millions of people worldwide are glued to the box! For stories are not only good entertainment, they are a vital part of our well-being.
As children stories help us understand who we are – and that goes for grown-ups too! They show us how we may relate in the world. They release us. They untangle some of the conundrum for us. Provide us with opportunity to reflect on our perspectives on the world. And, as they articulate our experience, they affirm our place in the world.
To hear the story, to hear reflections of our own story told is as important to our flourishing as having our physical needs met! Without story our lives would become unfathomable, we would begin to lose our bearings.
This is in part why the Church continues to be so important for society. It articulates the story of our creation, the stories of our relationship with God, and our relationships with one another. The Church proclaims the story of the possibility of redemption, the possibility of moving through and beyond the messes we may find ourselves in – the messes we create in our lives. As we encounter the ‘truth’ within story, we get the point, and it lodges deep within us, informs the people we become. This is why the Bible is a book full of stories – and not a treatise!
And so this morning we hear the story of Jacob by the Jabbok. One of my favourite stories in the Bible. For it encapsulates the gospel in one intense encounter we can never forget! The mystery of encounter with a real yet other-worldly stranger? An encounter which has enthralled artists down the centuries. Perhaps no one has captured the essence of this story better than Jacob Epstein in his bigger than life alabaster sculpture, Jacob and the Angel, the two figures interlocked, their struggle transposed into an embrace.
So just what you may be wondering, is this story all about!? Jacob is in terror for his life. Jacob the arch-deceiver who, with the connivance of his mother, has cheated his brother out of his birthright and inheritance. And the habit of deceiving has not left him. Deceived himself by his father-in-law Laban, into marrying his older daughter Leah in place of the beloved Rachel, Jacob in turn deceives his father-in-law for whom he works, out of the best flocks. His machinations noticed by Laban’s sons, he must escape to the land of his birth – his dubious birthright.
And Jacob desires to return home. Jacob is a ‘smooth’ man, a man of the mind rather than the ‘rough’ man of the hunt as his brother Esau. Nevertheless, Esau remaining in the land of their birth, has built himself a powerful dynasty in Canaan. He is now, a man to be reckoned with – just how will he receive his erstwhile brother? Word travels! Even without mobile phones! Jacob sends his servants ahead to spy out their prospects, test the ground, get some idea of how he might be received. The messengers return in a hurry! Esau is coming to meet Jacob with a band of four hundred men. No wonder he is terrified! Jacob is vastly outnumbered. And when he left in a hurry so long ago his brother was wanting to kill him!
Imagine your worst nightmare. Not a little of it, of your own making. You can see no way out of grief and disaster. Jacob is a man who speaks with God. Instructed to flee Laban and his sons, he leaves with the promise from God that all will be well. Nevertheless, four hundred men feel to Jacob a vengeful army he and his men could not possibly resist. What can he do? Hide his family and pray alone with God – as he has done before.
And so this morning we meet Jacob in the dark night by the ford across the Jabbok. This time it is not a stairway to heaven he encounters, but a strong man. A strong man who appears from nowhere to wrestle with him through the long hours, neither of them able to gain the upper hand. Until daybreak that is, when the stranger dislocates Jacob’s hip. Still Jacob will not let him go without first receiving a blessing. No words have passed between them. Now the man asks his name. ‘Jacob’, he replies. ‘Jacob’ which means ‘leg-puller’, for Jacob had held onto the leg of his brother, as the older of the twins was born. Hence the adage, “You’re pulling my leg”, when we don’t believe someone! Jacob, name he had made synonymous with deception.
But this is not to be for ever. In this terrifying encounter the deceiver becomes Israel, becomes “One who has prevailed with God.” Jacob has struggled and never let go. And the stranger blesses him. His old sullied persona has been taken away, a new name, new status, promise of an unimaginable new future, given in its place. Who is this mysterious stranger? Man, angel, God? All of them perhaps. Yet in his refusal to tell Jacob his name in return, Jacob recognises with astonishment that in the mystery of all that has happened he has encountered none other than God himself. And he names the place Peniel, “I have seen God face to face – and lived”. Let us ponder this extraordinary encounter for a moment. Despite all of his dubious scheming God has never left Jacob. God is there when he cries out. In this story we have the gospel encapsulated. We do not know all that lies ahead of us. But we can know that God will always be there, behind, beside, in front of us, waiting to hear our cry. No matter the difficulties in which we find ourselves are part of our own making.
Read the story again. Let it move deep within you, penetrate those questions which seem insoluble. A family drama heady as any episode of Downton! So what did happen next? Dust rising signals the approach of four hundred marching men. Jacob straddles out his entourage, keeping his most precious family to the last, placing them at the rear. He has made careful preparation of the best he has, to offer Esau as gift. Finally he goes ahead alone, bowing himself down to the ground in abasement seven times until he reaches his brother. What will happen? Still he has no idea. What he does know is that his brother has every reason to take revenge against him. But as Esau approaches, and recognises his brother, he runs to meet him, embraces him, kisses him, and they weep together. Tellingly, Esau has prospered and is happy in his life. He has enough, and does not want anything from Jacob other than reconciliation. And Jacob looking at Esau now, sees in Esau’s face, the very face of God. Jacob’s story is a long one of perseverance and tenacity. All of us must work – and at times struggle – to experience blessing. With ourselves and with God. Here is a story which comes down the millenia to us with power to change our lives too. Amen.