The Struggle of Man, the Blessing of God
Rev. Richard A. Bolland

Genesis 32:22-30
(October 31, 2004 Sermon Transcript)

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        Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

        Dear friends, from our Old Testament reading today, we talk about struggle.  Indeed, we see Jacob struggling with God mightily in a wrestling match, of all things, that lasted the entire night.  I would suggest to us that perhaps struggle is one of the hallmarks of life, especially in a sin-fallen world.

        We struggle with all that sin has brought us.  With broken families, broken morals, shattered ethics, and ruined friendships.  And corrupt politicians.  And war and pestilence and famines.  And hurricanes and tornados.  And, well, the list could go on and on, but you get the picture.

        But most of all, most of all, the main result of our fall into sin, and this of this world’s plunge into sin, is that we have a never-ending struggle with God Himself.  By nature we confess that we are conceived and born sinful and unclean.  And that in that fallen estate, our constant striving of our human will is always against that of the will of God.  We push against God.  We want to do what we want to so.  Our selfishness strives against the will of the Holy One.   

        Well, in our Old Testament lesson today we find a man struggling with God, do we not?  In a wrestling match!  How odd of God!  And how very human of man.  And terribly human, especially of Jacob.  By the way, the name Jacob (Yaakov)  has a very specific meaning.  He grasps his heel.  Not your normal name, for most children.  But it is an absolutely perfectly designed description of the birth of Jacob himself.  He was the second of twins born to Rebekah.  And when the two were born, well, guess what Jacob was grabbing as his elder brother as he was coming out of the womb?  You guessed it, the heel!  It was a sign of things to come. 

        He was literally going after his brother, even from that moment of birth, and he did for quite a number of years yet to come.  For Jacob was always grasping, it seems, after things that did not rightly belong to him.    

        Perhaps you remember the account in Holy Scripture.  Jacob struggled with Esav just as we continue to struggle with each other.  As we struggle also, at the same time, against sin.  Esav, on the one hand, became a very strong hunter, while Jacob was a more quiet man, who stayed around the family compound and did his work there. 

        In those days it was the first-born son who received the major share of the birth-right that came from father to son.  And indeed, we find that Jacob was a grasper of things other than his brother’s heel.  Sinfully, his sinful brother utilized the admittedly foolish impetuousness of Esav to swindle away from his brother the birth-right that rightfully belonged to him, for the cost of a bowl of stew!  Foolish indeed, and sinful indeed, of Jacob to do it. 

        Then later, you’ll recall, that working with the sinful complicity of his mother, Rebekah, they moved to mislead Isaac into giving the blessing that belonged to Esav, in a very deceptive way, to Jacob instead.  And it seems, that “grabber” was a good name for this selfish, scheming,  deceitful son of Isaac. 

        Well, needless to say, all this swindling, all this deceit, all this sin, did not sit well with Esav.  And, for his own safety, we find Jacob scrambling away, trying to hide, and he goes home to the hometown of his father, and there he hides out for a good number of years.  And there the Lord begins to teach him a lesson.  For indeed, his uncle Laban began to swindle him, and began to deceive him, and began to deal with him in dishonest ways, as you well know. 

        And then, in the midst of it all, God blessed Jacob.  In lots and lots of ways, with livestock and with earthly blessings that really abounded, so that Jacob might know that the source of this blessing is not in his control, but rather in the control of the One who has made us, the One who preserves us, and yes, the One who provides for us. 

        From our text, we find that, indeed, there is a return home.  Working on the command of God, Jacob, the dishonest one, now having become more wise, is going home to his father Isaac, and yes, to a confrontation with his brother Esav.  Listen to the word of the Lord.  Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,'  I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.  Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.  But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'" 

        Resting on the banks of the river, the Lord directed him to do a wise thing.  He arranged his great livestock herds into groups and sent them on ahead of him, with his servants, so that they each might meet Esav on the way and perhaps win his favor.  Large herds of livestock, representing the wealth that God had given him.  And so, finally, he’s left alone.  But not for long! 

        Suddenly a man appears.  And they wrestled with each other.  The struggled with each other until daybreak, until the one who we finally recognize as God touches him and his hip is thrown out of place.  And of course, the wrestling match at the point is over. 

        The God of all the universe, God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) appeared to Jacob and got in a wrestling match.  I find that utterly fascinating.  I find it fascinating, because it should have been no contest!  And I find it absolutely wonderful, the profound grace of God toward this sinner, this grabber, this selfish man, that God would condescend into letting that match go on that long.  So that He might bring blessing on Jacob. 

        What was God trying to say in all of that?  I would suggest that this marathon contest of muscle was for a specific purpose.  That all of Jacob’s life, it had been Jacob who had been moved to seek his own blessing.  By hook or by crook.  And it was indeed, that idea that we can control everything, that we can make sure and manipulate things to such an extent that they will always turn out to our favor, that God was trying to dispel.  God was saying to Jacob, what He says also to us.  That sometimes we mistakenly think that we will acquire our own blessings, that we will do so by our own wits, and we will do so by our own strength.  And that, what’s more, we can take credit for our own success, having been labeled as roundly successful in this life.  Who needs God, then, if we are the author of our own blessings? 

        But as Jacob learned at his uncle’s house, and learned again on the banks of the river in the midst of a wrestling match, it was not by human wits and strength that we obtain our blessings from God, but rather, they come from the hand of God Himself.  The credit for every blessing that we enjoy, everything good that we experience, completely belongs to God, and to God alone.  Our deceit and our cunning for this world’s goods, then, is always displaced and totally unnecessary.  God blesses His faithful people.  How hard is that for us to understand? 

        Like Jacob, we think we are in control.  We think we have acquired our blessings and success and possessions by our strength.  But often, we get so bound up in that that we find ourselves lost in what is oftentimes known as the proverbial rat-race. 

        God’s word, then should be instructive to us.  Listen to our Lord speak in the gospel of St. Luke.  Then Jesus said to His disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.   Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?  "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 

        Reality check! 

        God cares and provides for His people.  Perhaps not always in the way we would like, but exactly the way that is wise in His sight. 

        In our Declaration of Independence, there are many excellent, fine and grand words.  But there are also some that aren’t so hot.  For instance, the unalienable right to the “pursuit of happiness”.  Now, of course, all of us want to be happy.  But I am telling you that we have gotten into the pursuit of happiness to a fault.  Indeed, we do not, as the greatest end of our lives, pursue happiness, but rather, what we pursue is the glory of God.  That everything that we are, and everything that we have, is simply there on temporary loan to us so that God might be glorified in our living and in our use of the things He provides us. 

        Let us pursue the glory of God, and God will provide the happiness. 

        The most tragic of all of our efforts to control things, I would suggest, is our incessant efforts to control our eternal destiny.  We pursue that with some fervor as well, I might suggest.  It happens in a number of ways.  Let me point out a couple to you.   

        WE want to demonstrate to God that WE are good people, deserving of salvation, and WE do so by means of our good works, our good behavior, if you will.  So therefore WE get to control the outcome, or so we think!  Or, then, we understand that, if that is that case, grace is then compromised completely, for grace is receiving the gifts of God that we do not deserve.   

        Or, WE want at least to cooperate with God in achieving our salvation, so that we insist to WE can make our own decisions of faith to believe, and therefore we at  least partly control the outcome.  And once again, grace is compromised.   And the sacrifice of Christ is lessened.   

        Then sometimes, even when we give all credit to God with regard to our salvation, WE insist that by our our reason and strength, that we may just, as you know, pull up our bootstraps and be obedient servants of God.  And we are able to control our own behavior, thank you very much.  And I would suggest to you that also with this, grace is compromised, for it is by the grace of God that we are able to do that which Christ in us compels us to do. 

        All of this, as the writer to Ecclesiastes says, is vanity.  It is a chasing after the wind.  Every bit as much as all the scheming and deceitfulness of Jacob the grabber, we end up arranging, manipulating, controlling and deceiving not only others, but ourselves.   

        I would suggest to you, and to myself, that God is fully in control of our lives.  And finally, as with Jacob, we acknowledge that our struggle is not so much with the world, but ultimately with God.  In a sense, I would suggest to you that we are engaged in our own wrestling match with God, and He wishes to teach us precisely the same lesson that He taught Jacob.   As with Jacob, God gets involved with us. He comes to us in human flesh to show us He is willing to be fully engaged in your life and in mine.  He takes on human  flesh so that we might interact with Him..  This is the God with whom people can look in His eyes, and listen to Him speak, and feel His touch.  He became one who struggled with the law that human beings utterly failed to keep, so that we who did not keep the law, and that would be us all, might keep it through His perfect obedience.  What a struggle that was.   

        He comes to struggle with our sins also on the cross, so that death might be overcome.  And sin might be forgiven.  And we alone, without what He did on the cross and struggling mightily against the punishment for sin that we deserved, might live.  Might live now.  Might live forever. 

        He struggled also with death itself.   He struggled as He lay in a grave, dead from our sins.  So that we, through His death, might overcome the grave itself.  He laid there so that we might not.  And to make sure that we understood that completely and clearly, He rises from that grave.  He fills us with life that we ourselves will not remain captive in the grave!  We will not remain captive of death!  And we will not become citizens of hell, which is what we deserved! 

        What a struggle was that!  Yes, God in human flesh wrestles with all the things that would condemn us, and prevailed against them.   Christ has come to struggle and wrestle.  But let us know and remember that He saves us.  That He provides for us, and the He is our life! 

        So, how did things turn out between Jacob and his big brother Esav.  Listen to the word of the Lord.  Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.  He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.  But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.  Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children God has graciously given your servant."  Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down.  Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.  Esau asked, "What do you mean by all these droves I met?" "To find favor in your eyes, my lord," he said.  But Esau said, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself."  "No, please!" said Jacob. "If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably.  Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need." And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it. 

        And they all lived happily ever after! 

        God provides.  God saves.  Jacob the grabber finally learned that his faith had to be in the Lord, rather than in himself.  May God grant to all of us that same gracious and graceful understanding.  God has made us.   God has provided for us.  God has redeemed us.  And God, through Christ, will hold us in His arms forever, in the name of our Savior and Lord, the Christ of God.   Amen.