PENIEL AND JACOB’S NEW NAME

 

         When I think of “wrestling,” I think of Yukon Eric, Gorgeous George, and Saturday nights at my grandmother’s house, or two of my cousins who were noted wrestlers for U.N.I., or a boy named Sue, who wrestled with his dad in the “ mud and the blood and the beer.” And I think of my own wrestling matches with my past, my sins, my addictions, with the essence of who I am, and with my God! If I could go back in time, I would change many things and even now, I would change some things. I wrestled with alcohol, everyone knows that, but I also wrestled with the truth, and acceptance, and surrender. Once God got my attention, right away He started leaning on me to trust and let go, to give up my efforts to direct everyone else in my world and let the Holy Spirit have His way with me.

      And through the years I’ve know many people who have struggled with relationships, sins, addictions, health, dying, surrender, real discipleship, authenticity, and God’s call in their lives. Maybe this is why I embrace Peniel and Jacob’s struggle for a new name. Jacob was the youngest of Isaac's and Rebekah’s twins, and it seems that he was his mother's favorite. He wasn’t the hunter his brother, Esau was, but he knew how to get what he wanted. So he and his mother plotted to cheat Esau out of his birthright and his father’s blessing, and they succeeded. But Esau swore to kill Jacob and Jacob ran to his uncle Laban’s house for protection.

      By all accounts, Jacob was a good shepherd and between his insightful work and an ongoing scenario in which he and Laban tried to out-maneuver each other, Jacob acquired immense wealth. He also acquired Laban’s two daughters as wives- one who he was tricked into marrying and one who he loved to his dying day. Jacob had children by both women (and their handmaids), but in time, he decided to go home. He had to go back home and face what he had done to his brother. So, when Laban was preoccupied, Jacob took everything he considered his and headed back home.

      He was getting close to home when he received word that his brother was approaching him with 400 men. His hour of reckoning was at hand. So Jacob divided his wives and other property into two groups and sent them off by different routes. Then... he laid down to ponder things and sleep by the wadi Jabbok. It was pitch dark and he was completely alone, as alone as he had been since he said goodbye to his mother years before. He had acquired wealth. He had two wives and several sons. He had a birthright and a blessing... but he didn't have peace! Not peace of mind, not peace with his brother, not peace with his God, not peace with himself. He knew how to scheme, but of shalom he knew nothing at all. He didn't know who he was and who he ought to become. So he laid in the darkness and took stock of it all... when suddenly, he was blind-sided by an intruder... and the wrestling match was on!

      It must have been quite a sight- two men rolling around on the desert floor, grabbing, punching, kicking, in an effort to win the match. And it went on... until daybreak. Finally, Jacob's assailant struck him in the hip and threw it out of place. The outcome of the match was no longer in doubt. Jacob would not win... but he would NOT let go. Exalted and beaten, he refused to let go. "I will not let go until you give me a blessing," he cried. I insist on a blessing! You are able to bless me and I will cling to you until you do. That's what he said, and he was given a blessing!

      A new name! A new identity. From now on, the intruder noted, you will be known as Israel... because you have striven with God and humans. You have done business with the living God, and within that struggle... you have found your own identity. Come morning, Jacob knew that he had struggled with God... and lived. So, he named the place "Peniel,"... and he limped across the wadi with a new name, moving toward a new relationship with his brother and a deeper understanding of himself and his God!  

      Peniel means “face of God.” Do we ever know ourselves until we've wrestled with the Living God? Can we ever get a new name unless we receive it in this struggle? How far can we run? How long can we hide? How long will we settle with just getting by, when God offers a life of purpose, authenticity... and a new name? Coming to grips with our deepest self will require a struggle with the Giver of New Names. We'll never find shalom by running, hiding and living by our wits.  Let those who have ears, hear!

 

HOW DOES THE CREATURE SAY THANKS?

We have a host of positive emotions- joy, wonder, serenity, love, hope, and happiness among them- but our passage today urges us to focus on Gratitude. According to Luke (17:11-19), as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he entered a village where ten lepers were gathered to meet him. They stood a safe distance away and cried out for "mercy." Well, Jesus did not ignore them. He saw them and he told them to go and show themselves to their priests as men who no longer had leprosy, which would free them to engage in community life once again. The lepers did what they were told to do and as they were walking, they were healed. I suspect that nine of them began to run to their priests when they saw that their skin was free of imperfections.

 

Nine of the lepers returned to the lives they had lived in the past. They went back home. They cuddled their children. They got back to work... but one of the lepers returned to Jesus when he saw that he was being healed on the road. He recognized that he had been healed by God and he saw that he need to express his gratitude to Jesus. So he turned around with praise on his lips, and when he met Jesus he fell upon his face and thanked him! He knew who had healed him. He knew whom he needed to thank and according to Luke, he was a Samaritan, an alien, a man who Jews at that time would have ordinarily shunned.

 

The Samaritan saw that God had manifested his grace and his power in Christ Jesus, and he was overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude comes from knowing that God is with us (Immanuel) and that God never forsakes us. How many of you have seen God at work in your own lives? How many of you believe that God sent friends and mentors your way? How many of you believe that God is behind your current relationships, or your new jobs, or your spiritual growth, or your long walk out of the valleys of grief and death? Perhaps it's because I strayed so badly, but I can see God's finger prints all over my life. It was God who held me together before I left home and it was God who arranged my first meeting with Sherry, when I needed a friend more than I have ever needed a friend. It was God who sent mentors to me and opened doors that I didn't even know about.

 

How about you? Where has God healed you, provided for you, walked with you, forgiven you, listened to you, or sent angels your way? Surely we need to follow the Samaritan's lead and give thanks. You know, one of my favorite hymns is entitled, "God of the Sparrow," and in part, it goes like this:

 

God of the sparrow, God of the whale, God of the swirling stars,

How does the creature say awe? How does the creature say

praise?

God of the rainbow, God of the cross, God of the empty grave,

How does the creature say grace? How does the creature say

"thanks"?

 

In many ways, no doubt, but these ways are among them. We thank God with our tongues, when we pray, when we forgive others, when we treat others as we would treat Christ, when we try our very best to know him better and to grow as His servant, when we pass the love and grace that we have received forward, and when we fall to our knees and cry out, "Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for loving me.Thank you for walking with me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Amen!