Although I don’t watch pro-wrestling (my parents didn’t allow it lest I practice “piledrivers” on my little sister), I do get a kick out of the wrestlers’ names. There’s Junkyard Dog, Johnny Nitro, The Boogeyman, and The Big Show just to name a few. On our final episode of “Jake TV,” we’ll witness a strange wrestling match between Jacob and God, or if the event had been sponsored by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), it would have been promoted as The Trickster vs. The Hipster. If you’re a fan of the WWE, you have seen your share of strange wrestling matches but nothing can compare to this one. The Trickster vs. The Hipster was a struggle between friends, and one in which the weaker overcame the stronger. Let’s find out how God used this wrestling match to help Jacob mature as a believer.
Last time we left Jacob he had married the two daughters of his Uncle Laban and worked for him as a shepherd. After serving Laban for twenty years, God told Jacob it was time to return to Canaan where his father Isaac lived. Although Jacob was no doubt excited to be going home, word came that his brother Esau was coming to meet him. Was Esau coming with love in his heart or a lance in his hand to make good on his twenty year-old vow to kill him? The latter seemed more likely since Esau was advancing with a band of four hundred men.
Accordingly, Jacob took precautions. He split his family and flocks into two groups figuring if Esau attacked one group, the other might escape. After sending the groups across the Jabbok River under the cover of darkness, Jacob sat alone on the opposite bank and prayed for God’s protection. Suddenly a man pounced on Jacob and began wrestling with him. Talk about bad timing! Jacob already had enough to worry about in regard to meeting his brother. He couldn’t afford to expend the time and energy wrestling. Where was God when he needed him! Where was God? God was the one wrestling with Jacob.
Talk about a mismatch! I don’t think even the WWE would dream of matching a ninety-nine year-old (that’s how old Jacob was) against their toughest, roughest wrestler. If God had wanted to, he could have ended the match in a heartbeat. The fact that he didn’t tells us that God’s purpose was not to crush the life out of Jacob. God was still Jacob’s friend. Jacob too was convinced of this. How could he not be? Hadn’t God chosen him to be his child when he was still in his mother’s womb? Hadn’t God appeared to him in a dream at Bethel to assure him that, even though he was fleeing Canaan, he would come back and possess the land? Hadn’t God blessed him with wealth even though Uncle Laban had spent twenty years trying to rip him off? On top of all that, before Jacob’s family had crossed the Jabbok River, God had sent an army of angels to assure the patriarch that the Almighty would fight for him. All these things told Jacob that even though God now wrestled with him, he was still his friend.
Do you feel as if God has you in a headlock right now? Has the Almighty ever body-slammed you so that all you could do for days, perhaps even months was stare up at the ceiling from a hospital bed? If so, take comfort in this fact: while God wrestles with us he does so as a father. Just as you dads know the breaking point of your children and will never push them beyond that when rough-housing, so God knows how fragile we are and won’t do anything that will cause our faith in him to be extinguished (Isaiah 42:3). In fact his purpose in wrestling is to draw us closer to him. God made that clear in the Apostle Paul’s life through an illness. Although Paul asked God to remove the “thorn,” as he called the sickness, God responded: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
How God’s power is made perfect in weakness is illustrated in the way the wrestling match between Jacob and God progressed. At one point in the match, God reached over and dislocated Jacob’s hip with the touch of his hand. Jacob could do nothing more now than hang on to God. And hang on he did. Jacob refused to let go even when God asked him to. Jacob said he would not let go until God blessed him. God loved Jacob’s response. God loves it when we cling to his promises, even demand that he keep them. In fact this is why God wrestles with us - so that we will beg blessings of him, blessings he wants to give.
God did bless Jacob. He assured Jacob of this by giving him a new name. Jacob would no longer be known as the “Trickster” (the meaning of “Jacob”) but as the “Contender” for he had struggled with God and had overcome (the meaning of “Israel”). This name change from Jacob to Israel signalled a significant growth in Jacob’s faith. Jacob would now no longer primarily rely on himself and his devious ways to get things done; he would instead rely on God.
That’s the kind of spiritual makeover God is working in our lives and he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. He may use a virus, a less than caring boss, a loss in the family, whatever it takes to get us to realize that we can’t do it on our own – that we need God in our lives. It’s not a lot of fun when we’re wrestling with God and sometimes all we can do is hang on as did Jacob. That’s OK. In fact that’s what God wants. He wants you to cling to his promises and boldly “remind” him: “Lord, in baptism you made me your child. You promised to be with me. You’ve said that everything will work out for my good. I’m going to hold you to your promises!” God loves it when his children come to him with such boldness, and he delights to let us win “victories” over him on the basis of humble, believing prayer (John Jeske). So keep praying, Christian. Pray confidently and continually!
The name change was not the only memento Jacob would take away from his wrestling victory. His dislocated hip was another reminder of what had happened, and another example of how God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Now Jacob couldn’t even run away from Esau if he wanted to. He would have to rely on God to ensure that the meeting with his brother would go well! And the meeting did go well. Jacob appeared before his brother a changed man. He bowed seven times before Esau to show humility and perhaps regret for how he had taken advantage of his older brother twenty years earlier. Esau too was a changed man. He didn’t speak a word about his murderous threat but made it clear that he wanted to treat Jacob as his brother. Esau even offered to supply men to protect Jacob’s property but Israel declined the offer. Jacob knew that God’s angels were with him and therefore he didn’t have to rely on his own cunning or on his brother’s men to protect his family.
Although our sermon series on the life of Jacob only took six weeks to complete, we’ve covered ninety-nine years of the patriarch’s life. What does that tell you about God? It tells us that God is patient with his children. Although it took ninety-nine years for Jacob to mature in his faith, God stuck with him. And God sticks with us too. He does whatever it takes, even wrestles with us, so that we will mature in the faith. Will it take ninety-nine years for that to happen? Hopefully not. But even if it should, we can be certain that our status before God is never in doubt. God assures us of this by giving us a name change. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we are no longer considered by God to be his enemies but his children. Since we are God’s forgiven children take to heart all the lessons we have learned from Jacob and stop relying on your sinful cunning to get ahead in life. Turn to God for all your needs from forgiveness to your daily bread. God will supply it. That’s his promise and as mature children we will believe it and hold God to it. Amen.
