Sermon for 2-25-24
Genesis 32: 24-32
Lent 2, 2024
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,[e] and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[f] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,[g] saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
+In the Name of Jesus+
The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Do you know what that means? He is telling us to come to God in all boldness as His people. So, as strange as it might sound, the Lord condescends to let his children wrestle with Him in prayer. In this way He appears most clearly as the God of never-changing grace and mercy. Even as sinners, as was Jacob, He still invites us to engage in bold, persistent prayer as did the woman from Canaan in our Gospel text for today.
As we concentrate on the amazing boldness with which Jacob prayed even while he was still in the grip of great fear, we draw our attention to this:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WRESTLE WITH GOD?
Let’s consider the story of Jacob piece by piece. We are told that Jacob is left alone after he sent his family across the stream. We are told “And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.” From what follows, we know that this was more than a man. The prophet Hosea tells us that Jacob’s opponent here is termed “The Angel.” Here we again encounter the Second Person of the Godhead, The Christ.
From the same passage of Hosea we learn that Jacob’s prayer was one of deep agony because Hosea tells us “He wept and begged for his favor.” Surely Jacob sensed from the very beginning that he was striving with more than a man. But he was so intent on receiving a favorable answer from the Lord that he struggled fiercely with his supernatural opponent. So fiercely did Jacob wrestle with his divine antagonist that his opponent “saw that he could not overpower him.”
Now, we might say, “What is going on here? Cannot God overpower a mere man? As the God of Omnipotent power, God must always prevail. But as the God of grace and mercy, He is “weak” in the face of the believer’s prayers and they will prevail with Him. Again, we see this in the account of the Canaanite woman. And when we say “believers’ prayers,” we mean prayers that are wholly such, prayers that are in harmony with God’s will. Sinful prayers God must and will oppose.
Next, we learn that the angel “touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.” He did this because Jacob was a sinner and inclined to follow his own will and fall again into sin, especially his sin of trickery with Esau and His father Isaac. The angel was giving Him a reminder of the victory he had won in order to warn him against a relapse. By a mere touch, the angel dislocated the hip of Jacob.
But still the struggle went on. Finally, Jacob’s antagonist said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” Why did the angel, the Lord Himself, say this? Jacob knew that his opponent was divine. But Jacob was determined to have a blessing: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
So, I have a question for you. Do you think Jacob too bold and persistent in his prayer? No! It is completely pleasing to God when a man of true faith lays hold of God’s promises and will not let go until he has received the promised blessing. This is faith.
In response, the angel asks Jacob his name. We might be thinking again, “This is the LORD, he should have known Jacob’s name.” Here God was not seeking mere information. The Lord wanted to lead Jacob to think about how the name “Jocob” meaning “deceiver” had fit him all too well in the past as he resorted to deception and trickery.
So, the LORD says to Jacob with full authority, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” In turn, Jacob says, “Please tell me your name.” But the angel said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” This answer implies that Jacob already knew that this was the Lord and did not need to answer. At that point, the LORD blessed Jacob. We are not told wat the blessing was. Luther suggests that it may have been the supreme blessing granted to Abraham and Isaac, the Messianic blessing, “In you, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
To the place where Jacob encountered God he gave the name Peniel, that is in Hebrew, “The face of God.” Think of this: Jacob saw the face of God and lived. Through this encounter, the Lord has restored the soul of Jacob. He had been near despair because of the dangers surrounding him. His lingering self-trust, his reliance on his own deceptive and clever devices was the cause of his despair. His wrestling with God had broken his self-trust and brought him to cast Himself entirely on God’s mercy.
Now, I want to ask you: are you any better than Jacob in your life, your life in thought, deed and word. Jocob was a deceiver. Have you ever told a lie and tried to deceive? How often have you relied on our own sinful cleverness to get us through life rather than placing all our care into the hands of our God who promises to take care of us. For this we deserve to be left to our own sinful devices.
And yet, our Lord invites us to pray, to wrestle with Him, to expect a blessing. The Lord invites you, the sinner, to be bold in your requests trusting that He will bless you. It is utterly pleasing to God when a man of true faith lays hold of God’s promises and will not let go until he has received the promised blessing.
Yes, often our Lord touches us on the hip of affliction to ensure that we do not become proud in our own abilities. Yes, our Lord touches us with the Law to remind us of the weakness of our sinful flesh as He did with Jacob who was so inclined to follow his own will.
Your Savior touches you with these things so that you plead and weep for His blessing and promise. The promise God has made with you was made at the cross. That promise is that your sins are forgiven, all of them, all of those deceptive times in your life when you listened to your Old Adam rather than the Word of God. As with Jacob, as with the Canaanite woman your Lord is “weak” in the face of your prayers and those prayers will prevail with your Lord. Come to the cross once again this day to receive that blessings.
In the account before us this day, the Lord asked Jacob his name, the name which meant “deceiver.” The blessing of the Lord for Jacob was a change in his name from “Deceiver” to “Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” His status as a deceiver was changed into the status of a child of God.
So it is with you. You and I come to the baptismal font in our own name, in our old sinful flesh with the sin of Adam and Eve still clinging to our body. This name will condemn us to hell. This Name too, inherited from Adam and Eve, is the name of one who has deceived God and man. But your Lord wants you to come to come boldly to His baptismal font in all boldness expecting a blessing. Again, as the writer of Hebrews says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” This is Baptism.
As with Jacob, in holy Baptism, the Lord calls you by a new Name. That name is also “Israel,” one who has prevailed with God in and through the holy life of Christ and His innocent death. St. Paul tells us, “You who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” In Baptism you go away as the child of promise and therefore you are the Real Israel as St. Paul also says: “Only the children of the promise are counted as his descendants.”
Jacob called the place where he wrestled with God, “Peniel,” “The face of God.” Jacob rejoices in that he saw the face of God, and lived. We too see the face of God and live. Indeed, your Lord wants you to see His face; it is the face of grace and mercy, the face of forgiveness and life eternal. And the life we are now able to live is in Christ.
You and I see the face of God by faith each week in Word and Sacrament. It is the face of peace as we hear in the benediction, “The Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace.” Each week, the LORD blesses us with the greatest blessing, the blessing of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.
So, what does it mean to wrestle with God? It means to expect and believe that God is true to His Word. This means that your Lord invites you to come before His throne in all boldness, confessing your sin expecting the blessing of forgiveness. That invitation is here for you in the Lord’s Supper. Come to His table again this morning in all boldness expecting and receiving that blessing. Your Lord has promised the blessing of His body and blood given and shed for your forgiveness. Go in peace.
Soli Deo Gloria