Wounded and Blessed
April 20, 2008
Betty Pries
Text:
Genesis 32:22-32
Several years ago, I read a short snippet in a Globe & Mail article regarding personal transformation. The author was suggesting that there are two ways in life through which one can be transformed. One is to have a nervous breakdown. The other is to get married.
While the author was trying to be humorous, the question of how we are transformed is an important one and in broad strokes the author might be quite right. Though transformation often happens gradually, it is typically the result of an intense experience or an intense relationship. It is this intensity which forms the fire in which we are refined.
It is this same intensity that Jacob encounters the night he wrestles with the angel.
At the riverbank, Jacob is entirely alone. He has sent his whole family ahead of him. It is night. It is dark. And I imagine that he must be deep in thought.
Come morning, Jacob is meant to meet his twin brother – the brother from whom he once stole a blessing. Earlier in Genesis we are told that Jacob is terribly afraid of what his brother will do to him. And so he hangs back. Maybe he’s trying to collect himself. Maybe he is taking time to pray. Certainly he is wrestling – with himself and as we discover, also with an angel.
The wrestling is so intense, Jacob is wounded. Jacob’s hip is put out by the angel and forever after, Jacob will be forced to limp.
Who is Jacob? This is the question to which the angel wants to know an answer. Tell me your name, the angel says.
And herein lies the difficulty for Jacob. If he says his name then he reveals to the angel the truth about who he is, for Jacob’s name means – “deceiver.”
Let us be clear about this. Jacob has not been a likable guy. He deceived his father, he stole the birthright from his brother and then he stole from his uncle – the man to whom he went for refuge. The sins committed by Jacob are numerous. One gets the sense that Jacob would do anything to get ahead. In fact, what Jacob has done is lived up to his name.
Now, standing at the river… Jacob wrestles. And the angel wants to know his name.
Here, perhaps for the first time, no lie, no fakery, nothing can get Jacob out of the mess he is in.
Jacob.
My name is Jacob.
I have been the deceiver.
And in this moment, the angel says to him, “You shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have struggled with both God and humans, and you have prevailed.” And the angel blesses him.
Jacob confesses his name, he faces all of what his name means and in this very intense moment, he is transformed. He is given a new name – Israel.
What is interesting about this new name is that it is not disconnected from who Jacob has been. Yes, Jacob has been the deceiver but Jacob has also been a man of faith and throughout his journeys he has called upon God to assist him. The angel recognizes this. The angel also sees Jacob’s deep desire for integrity. Having stolen his brother’s blessing the angel sees that Jacob now wrestles for a legitimate blessing. And the angel does not disappoint. He blesses Jacob and he provides him with a name that honours this search for integrity. “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with both God and humans, and you have prevailed.”
And so Jacob comes away from this long night of struggle with a wound, with a blessing and with a new name. Israel.
Why this story on this day – this day of intentional conversation among members and adherents at TUMC regarding who TUMC is and who TUMC is becoming?
It is my belief that like individuals, each congregation has a unique calling in this world, a unique purpose. In its simplest form this calling is actually not at all unique. It is the call to preach the gospel and make disciples, to love God and to love our neighbours.
But each congregation also has its own history, its own location, its own unique time and place in which this calling finds its texture, its meaning and its expression. This is what makes the calling unique.
Jacob’s story has something to say to us regarding how we discover this calling.
It is interesting to me that Jacob comes away from his night of wrestling with both a wound and a blessing. Our call is not divorced from the fullness of who we are. Our call emerges from both our wound and our blessing.
In this way, our wound is also our gift. After all, it is Jacob’s brokenness that drives him to wrestle with the angel. Likewise, it is our own brokenness that propels us to demand a new blessing and to receive a new name.
Jacob’s wound – while given to him physically by the angel – is more than his limp. Jacob’s wound is his name, the deceiver. Interestingly Jacob cannot receive his new name until he has released his old one. It is only after Jacob confesses his identity as deceiver that he is given his new identity, Israel. And yet, the wound will always be a part of Jacob. He will limp forever and the memory of who he has been will always be with him.
It bears noting that while Jacob demands a new blessing, what he has not seen is that he is already blessed. God has been with him despite everything. And God is with him again, this night of struggle.
I wonder, if we were to release to God the fullness of who we are – our wounds and our blessings – what would we hear back from the angels in our lives? What would TUMC hear?
TUMC too has been through seasons
of wrestling. In these last weeks, the Listening Group has heard about TUMC’s woundedness. The Listening Group has also heard about the many ways in which God has blessed TUMC.
During this process in which we are engaged, the church is wrestling with the angel, the church is seeking its call, asking for its new name – not literally but figuratively. To do so, the angel asks TUMC, What is your name? Who are you? What do you confess? What gift is visible behind the name you already have?
May we, like Jacob, wrestle with the angel. May the angel speak. May our ears be open. May this church hear its call. May this church receive its blessing.
AMEN.