Jacob Jebeks at the Jabbok

 Jacob Jebeks

         I love Genesis... 
it’s weird
—it’s spooky. 
God is unchained and unpredictable, 
as are the people God encounters.

         Genesis can be a little scary… and a little playful too… a strange mix. 
For example, Jacob wrestles… struggles… at the Jabbok river… or in Hebrew:
Jacob Jebeks at the Jabbok…

 

         He struggles from nightfall to the dawn with this… 
man… angel… God…

         Who exactly is wrestling with Jacob, 
is purposefully and masterfully ambiguous… 
Genesis is good at that… 
like Keyser Soze is The Usual Suspects, 
or Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name, 
or The Stranger who falls from the sky in the latest J.R.R. Tolkien adaption “The Rings of Power”

         The identity of this man is as clear as mud 
and as bright as a moonless, starless, night.

Yes, he is wrestling with God,
But Jacob is also wrestling with his brother, Esau, 
And with himself as well
—Jacob wrestling with Jacob.

         Jacob wrestling with God, Kin, and Self.

 

Let us pray

         Jacob Jebeks… he wrestles… with himself.
and his reputation
with the choices he’s made, 
from childhood on,
choices that have ultimately stranded him there 
alone in the dark,
on the other side of the river.

         He wrestles with his nature
What it means to be Jacob
Jacob, a trickster who 
struggles and wrestles 
and always has to come out on top
come out ahead
Always… 
especially… 
at the expense of someone else.

         Jacob wrestles with his choices,
his inclination toward control and domination,
shrewdness that falls into unkindness, injustice, and even outright theft.

 

         Jacob wrestles with himself… do we do the same?

         Do we take ourselves seriously enough to lose sleep over who we are and who we have become?

         Do we reflect upon the consequences of our actions 
and mull over the intentions of our hearts?

         Jacob wrestles with himself… do we?

 

         Jacob Jebeks… he wrestles… with his brother Esau…
as he has done from his mother’s womb onward.

         Jacob knows that when the sun rises in the east, 
he will have to face his long-estranged brother,
face the long-avoided consequences of the confrontation that has blown up well beyond mere sibling rivalry, between him and Esau.

         Esau who he grappled with even in his mother’s womb,
grasping Esau’s heel 
to pull him back 
and win the earliest of races… birth.
         Esau whom he cheaply cheated out of his birthright, 
and whose blessing Jacob took by trickery.
         Esau who he continually antagonized up to that 
tense time in their family history,
when Jacob had to go,
leave home… 
or else.
         Esau of whom Jacob is terrified
so afraid that 
he sends his fortune 
barreling toward his brother 
on the other side of the river 
as a sign of either intimidation or appeasement…

         Jacob, so scared that 
he sends his own family 
out ahead of him,
across the river to the other side as human shields,
as one last trick
decoys sent so Jacob can slip away 
while Esau is 
otherwise engaged 
with Jacob’s treasure 
and wives 
and children.

         He wrestles there 
at the Jabbok river 
all night wrestles 
with Esau, his kin
because he knows that 
at first light 
he too has to cross over 
and come face to face with Esau,
his brother;
tomorrow will either be a day of reconciliation or destruction.

 

         Jacob wrestles with his kin… do we?

         Do we struggle with the task of reconciliation? 
Do we concern ourselves with the hard and necessary task of confession and forgiveness?

         Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who ran 
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa after the fall of Apart-heid, 
had seen what it means to really forgive someone, 
more deeply than most mortals ever get to, and, 
reflecting on that experience, 
he broke down the process of reconciliation into four concrete tasks:
1. Admitting the wrong. 
2. Listening to the Story 
3. Asking for Forgiveness. 
4. Renewing or Releasing the relationship.

         Yes… 
righting a wrong takes more than a band aid, 
more than a surface “I’m sorry.”

 

         Jacob Jebeked… he wrestled… with God.

This is the plainest reading of the story
—he sees God face to face… 
there at the Jabbok River…

         There by the river, 
a crossing point from one plane of existence into another
One reality and another…

         He meets the stranger 
who is God 
and fights, 
wrestles, with that stranger 
down by the river.

         And to be plain about what’s going on here…

         This is where you’d expect such an encounter.
Where you might meet a god,
Think of trolls under bridges
Dryads peering into their pools…

         In the ancient imagination, watery places are thin places.

         The river is a razor thin barrier between 
divine things 
and human things…

The border between 
heaven and earth 
can be easily forded, 
down by the river.

         Jacob is pulled through that thin space, 
brought face to face with God, 
as he wrestles on 
the slippery bank 
of the Jabbok river

 

         Jacob wrestles with God… do we?

         Do we? 
Do we take our faith outside these Church walls 
and into all our moments?

         Do we probe and strain 
to discern God’s will and meaning for us?

         Do we follow Jesus? 
Are we his disciples?

         Do we take the time to wrestle with our God questions until the question marks are bent into exclamation points?

         Do we at least experience the solace that comes from wrestling with those questions… because sometimes the wrestling is the most important part.

 

         When we join Jacob 
and Jebek at the Jabbok…
take ourselves seriously,
do the hard work of reconciliation,
reconfirm our faith again and again in watery, 
baptism-like, questions…

We are ultimately wrestling with Love.

         What do I mean by that?

         Think carefully about Christ’s only command…
the great Commandment…
Love God
and love your neighbor
as yourself.

         Love.

         Love God… trust God’s promises in such a way that they become a light unto your feet and a light unto your path.

         Love Neighbor… relationships take work, trust takes time and consistency, and righting wrongs doesn’t happen in a day.

         Love self… before you can love another, you need to be grounded in a certain level of dignity and self-worth, it is the well from which other relationships can flow.

 

         Jacob wrestled… as do we… 
with Christs’ gracious command
—it can be a struggle, 
at times a battle even… 
yet it is a struggle worth dedicating our lives to, 
worth the wrestling and the dark nights, the thin places, missteps, and limps, the striving and the dreaded-blessed-glorious dawn.

         Jacob wrestled, and so shall we. Thanks be to God. Amen.