If Possible, Live Peaceably

Romans 12: 9-21

 

 

 

        If possible, live peaceably. That’s what Paul wrote to the Roman church, probably from Corinth while on his third missionary journey. If possible, live peaceably, said Paul back in the first century. Is it possible to live peaceably? I took a look the other day at the New York Times website at the week in review. No special week.  Just this week.  What happened this week around the world we live in?

        Well, let’s see. In Geneva, the UN reported that 36 people a day are being killed in the fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels.  The death and injury count since mid-July is 4,450. In Syria, over half the country’s population has been displaced and more than 3 million people are refugees in other countries. The UN calls it the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era. In Iraq, the cradle of civilization, ISIS has driven more than a million people from their homes. Over two thousand have died in Gaza as Palestinian militants trade rocket fire with the nation of Israel. In Libya, the U.S. has withdrawn its diplomats as fighting and civil war accelerate, threatening the whole region of North Africa with unrest, while down south in Nigeria, the capital city of Monrovia is on curfew as it tries to exist in the vise of the Ebola virus. Ebola deaths now have topped 1200 in West Africa with no real sign of containment. Meanwhile, the rest of the world suffers from poverty and violence in record numbers, from Juarez, Mexico to Honduras to the African Sudan to Ferguson, Missouri.

        And Paul says to the Roman church: “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection.” How? we ask. Are we to love those who would behead us in the name of religion? Are we to care for those who call us the infidel, who plant roadside bombs to murder us? How can we bless those who persecute us? And is the fight ours or theirs? Why do we Americans have to be involved around the world in all this international war and killing and poverty and starvation? Why us? We have our own problems.

        Surely a look at this week in religion will yield more positive results. A retired New York Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church told a group in Bridgeport, Connecticut that he regretted having apologized for the priest abuse scandal there in 2002.  He said he had no obligation to report sexual abuse to the authorities. The Air Force removed the word God from a Latin phrase used on the logo of an Air Force acquisitions office in response to complaints from an atheist group. A new poll shows that 21% of Americans say that religion does not play an important role in their lives, up from 14% in 1997.  Of course, there is the ongoing violence worldwide in the name of religion, highlighted this last week by the beheading of American journalist James Foley in Iraq by members of ISIS, the extremist militant group.

        There is good news, of course. There are humanitarian efforts going on all the time. We are not hopeless, but the world in which we live is chaotic. What can we do? We’re just a little church in a little community. We don’t have connections. What can we do to help? “Rejoice in hope,” says Paul. “be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints…”

        Paul goes on, and his words and thoughts, though magnificent, are almost impossible to live by. He says to live in harmony with one another. He says to be humble, to put away pride. Paul says to bless those who persecute us, to never avenge ourselves.  Oh, how I wish Paul were talking about my friends here at church or my friends in the neighborhood where I live, or even those crazy people that yell and scream at the refs at every ball game. I might could handle that.

        But Paul isn’t talking about our friends or even our neighbors. Paul is talking about our enemies. Paul wants us to invoke God’s blessing on those whom we can’t stand. He wants us to pray for people who would hurt us, even kill us. He calls on us to associate with those on the other side of the tracks and even those who think our way of life and our religion is hogwash and dangerous. These are the people-- these are the groups, for whom we are to pray, for whom if at all possible, we are to live in harmony.

        Frankly, we are probably living in a culture in which what I just said is not just difficult; it is counter-cultural. In the United States, fifteen million civil lawsuits are filed each year. Though we have only about 4 ½ percent of the world population, we have eighty percent of the lawyers! We live in a society that has become accustomed to suing each other. Living in harmony? That’s un-American! We have taken the rights of the individual to the illogical extreme, and we have forgotten how to solve problems. If something goes wrong, sue somebody!

        All over the Middle East and in other parts of the world, people groups are resorting to violence to carve out a piece of real estate for themselves or to find ways to preserve their way of life. American democracy and Western culture threaten that life in the religious nation states of the Middle East. Religious extremists use the Bible or the Koran to justify their slaughter of innocents in the name of God or Allah or some other creed of the day. And then others fight back, defending their turf or their culture. But in fighting back, whether in civil wars or wars between nations, or wars between nations and terrorist groups, or wars of ideologies, everyone looks to win the high ground and champion that way of life. We must win. We must prevail. We must be right. Dead right.

        Paul reminds us. That is not the way of God. Only God wins. If we take the fight to our enemy, we may only do so when led by God. And that is unlikely, because, as Paul reminds us, vengeance is not for us, but for God. Oh, it does happen. Once in a great while, the world is faced with so much evil that it must act. It certainly happened in World War II. It may happen again. But generally, God will execute his own judgment in his own time.

        Paul’s teaching becomes more profound when we begin to realize that to do otherwise, to take matters into our own hands,  is to usurp God, to pre-empt him from carrying out his judgment. Who are we to assume such responsibility! Thomas Schreiner puts it this way: “Believers are liberated from taking justice into their own hands and are free to do good because they know that God will right all wrongs in the end.”

        Is there a message in this sermon? I hope so. Part of it for me is that God is sovereign. The words just rip off my tongue like directions to the gas station, but that is not my intent. GOD IS SOVEREIGN! That means God is over it all. He is over the bullies and the terrorists groups just as much as he is over this church and the people in these pews. He is over people and churches and governments and even nations. God is sovereign! And he asks us to do this: Trust me. Obey me. Pray, wait and love.

        Paul does give us one more caveat. Sometimes, it really is impossible to be still. Sometimes, you have to move. Sometimes, the world around us, the culture we live in, gets so “out there” that if you are a Christian, if you have been redeemed, then you have to stand up. Paul says in v. 18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” So you and I have a responsibility.  As far as this or that situation depends on us, we must live peaceably.  We are to have humble concern for one another, wherever and however situated. But…peace is not always possible.

        When we have exhausted every remedy, when we have prayed for guidance, when we are moved by the Holy Spirit, when we are called upon to stand for the truth of the gospel or have that truth compromised, when we have no other choice but to stand for Jesus Christ or be identified as not standing for him, then peace is unattainable. Then….we stand for the truth, and the truth is Jesus Christ and our uncompromising belief in him and the salvation that lies only through him.

        Is it hard to know where the line is? Not really. The Holy Spirit will take care of that for us. We will know. So today, let us pray for our enemies, for our country, for our leaders. They need it. So far as it is in our power to do so, let us live peaceably. 

        And when the time comes to stand, we will do just that, because the sovereignty of God and the truth of the gospel are the trump card of every Christian. Sometimes, peace is unattainable, but Christian witness is never out of reach.

Who Is Jesus?

Matthew 16: 13-16

 

 

          As today’s story begins, Jesus is near the end of his three year ministry here on earth. He has already performed many miracles and provoked much opposition. For years, various persons had appeared claiming to be the promised Messiah. Some developed a following, but all eventually fell away.  But there was something different about this man Jesus. Many recognized this and began to follow him. Many others, particularly the religious leaders of the day, were skeptical, watching and waiting for him to stumble like all the others before him. He threatened their way of life and he spoke of the poor as though they were somehow important.

        Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had been confronted by Israel’s religious leaders. Once again, he had left them mumbling. Although they protested his ways, they recognized that Jesus was someone to be reckoned with. Later, Jesus withdrew from the crowd that followed him and he and the disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee. It was the last and perhaps most important withdrawal from Galilee before his final trip south to Jerusalem. Jesus is talking to the disciples, concerned that they still do not understand who he really is.

         Jesus and the disciples arrive in the region of Ceasarea-Philippi. This area is full of strong influences from several cultures, where both paganism and polytheism flourished side by side. Jesus and the Twelve stood in the shadows of the temples of the gods of all the great cultures of the earth, from the great Syrian gods to the ancient Greek gods to the white marble temple worshipping Caesar. They stood at the spot thought to be the mouth of the river Jordan.  It was a location rich in both pagan and Jewish religious history. It was hardly coincidental that Jesus chose such a spot to have this conversation. So in the cradle of the world’s religions, Jesus turned to his disciples with a question: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  John the Baptist, said one. Elijah, said another. Jeremiah, said yet another. “But what about you? asked Jesus. Who do you say I am?”

      Do you know? The disciples didn’t. At least, they weren’t sure. Do you know who Jesus is? Is he a great man? Is he a Prophet of God? Is he the Son of God? Can he be one thing to you and another thing to me and yet another thing to someone else? Does it matter if he was Jewish? Who is this Jesus?

        The Gospels tell us a lot about Jesus. Of course by most accounts, they were written over thirty years after he died and they tell a story that is part historic and part evangelistic. Jesus made some claims in the Gospels. He claimed, among other things, to be the only way to God. He claimed to lead a sinless life.  He claimed to have been around with God since before creation, to be able to forgive sins, to be a heavenly king, even to have the authority to grant everlasting life to us. His claims drove the religious leaders crazy, so crazy that they plotted for his death…and they got it. Why did he make them so crazy? Because they understood correctly that the only person who could legitimately make such claims would have to be God himself.

        Who was Jesus? Is he who he claimed to be? Or is he a great guy who did a lot of really cool things back in the day, but then got in wrong with the powers that be and they stopped him? Much more importantly than who Jesus was, is who Jesus is!          

        When Jesus asked the disciples who people said He was, the answers were complimentary, but mixed.. They implied that Jesus was a prophet and this was high praise. Israel had not had a prophet in over four hundred years. But even these lofty descriptions fell far short of the mark, for they were phrased in human categories, and though Jesus was certainly human, he was much more!

      Peter got it. He called Jesus the son of the living God. Peter, the man who just a few stories back was walking on water in faith…still reached out in faith. It made Jesus very happy. Even in the stilted language of the Bible that we read so many centuries removed, we can feel the happiness in Jesus’ voice. “Blessed are you, Simon!”  Jesus was happy because he knew that God has acted in Peter’s life. God had caused Peter to see the truth.

        Who is Jesus? Peter knew. Jesus went on to rename Simon. He was now Peter, which means “rock.” Jesus said that on this rock he will build his church. Most scholars interpret this to mean Peter’s faith as opposed to Peter himself. It is the faith of those like Peter, a faith like a rock, upon which Jesus sought to build his church.

      Modern religious survey organizations tell us that while many Americans believe in God, their belief in Jesus is not so well formed. While many believe that Jesus is the Son of God, they do not focus upon Jesus as the way to salvation. Their worldview has added God, rather than having started with God. God is a good idea, but so are Mohammed, and Buddha, we say. Isn’t being good and moral and helpful enough, we ask? Shouldn’t we be diverse and accepting of other belief systems? Shouldn’t we be more tolerant? News flash: God is not an “add-on.”  He is not an “app” for us to tap in to our lives at our convenience. He is, he was, he will be.

      And Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” [John 14: 6]  To believe otherwise is to deny the plain words of the gospel. We are certainly at liberty to do so, but we should bear in mind that when we turn our backs on Jesus, he turns his back on us. Being good, living a good life, doesn’t get you to heaven. The promise of heaven comes from accepting the gift of God’s grace and by believing in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus as the Son of God.

        Who is Jesus? Is he your role model? That’s nice. He makes a great role model. Is he a great teacher? Of course he is. Was he a miracle worker and a healer? That’s not really in dispute, but as great as that was and is, others have done great healings. Miracles happen every day thanks to technology and modern medicine.      

      Who is Jesus to you? Your life depends on the answer you give. In fact, not just your life on earth, but your eternal life rides on your answer, and many get it wrong. Jesus warned us of this. He warned that we must

            “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate 

             and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and

             many enter through it. But small is the gate, and

             narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find

             it.”     [Matt. 7: 13-14]

 

          In the Greek, the word is Christ. In Hebrew, it is Messiah. Both mean Anointed One.  Peter didn’t just know about Jesus---he knew Jesus. Our knowledge of Jesus must never be secondhand or abstract. We can know everything there is to know about Him, and still be lost. Our knowledge must be personal, and our experience with him must be relational.  We have to know him the way Peter knew him…by the revelation that comes to us from the Holy Spirit of God.

       I know Jesus.  I don’t know him as well as I should, as well as I will, but I know him. He is the Son of the living God. He is my Savior. Who is Jesus to you?                         

                     Saying Is Defiling

                                            Matthew 15: 1-20

 

 

          Jesus and the Pharisees engage all throughout Matthew’s gospel in an ongoing debate about the law. The Pharisees are the gatekeepers of the law. They live by the rules. They have rules to interpret the rules. In chapter 15, the rule that the Pharisees are worried about is hand washing. The disciples are breaking with tradition because they have not washed their hands before eating. The Pharisees say that this defiles the disciples. In other words, it makes them unclean. It corrupts them. Jesus says they are at the right source but are focusing on the wrong process. He says that it’s not what goes in that hurts you. Your digestive system will take care of anything the body doesn’t need. Rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth that defiles, and it can be damaging beyond belief.

 Ever played the game “Telephone?” You know how it works. Someone speaks a line to another, then the other repeats it. The process continues for about ten people or so. By the time the message makes it to the end of the line, it barely resembles what it started as. That’s mis-communication. In a game, it can be funny, but in real life, it can be very harmful. Telephone has other names, like rumor, or gossip, or innuendo, or propaganda. It gets so bad that modern law actually recognizes the civil wrongs of slander and libel when such gossip is done with malice or evil intent tp defame someone.

Rumors can be devastating. They don’t have to be true. They usually aren’t, although there is often a grain of truth in them.  And they grow very quickly. Writer Terry Pratchett says that “A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.” And it can do some permanent damage just about as quickly.

How do we become defiled? How do we become corrupted? How is our witness compromised? One way is listening to the wrong people telling half-truths. We are constantly called upon to make choices. Today, we have all sorts and forms of media coverage about current events, entertainment, sports, and a host more of subjects. News is practically instantaneous. We can see buildings burning and missiles exploding half way around the world practically live. We have running commentary to tell us what things mean. We are not required to think for ourselves. The weather man will tell us whether to wear a raincoat or a jacket. The reporter on the scene will tell us how bad it is and interview hurt people about their feelings.

Jesus warned the people about the local religious media. He said that for the sake of tradition they were voiding the very word of God. The Pharisees were so busy applying the letter of the law that they had no time to notice that they were breaking its spirit. The law, given by God as a revelation of who he was and who he wasn’t, a set of guidelines by which God’s people could come to know his love for them, had become nothing more than a rulebook in the hands of the religious leaders.  They preached about corruption, but it was the Pharisees who corrupted God’s word.

Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah. He said that such behavior only paid lip service to God, that real honor comes from the heart. Then Jesus said something that is so timeless in its application. He said “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” His words ring as true today as they did in the days of Rome. Today, we fight to preserve the gospel of Jesus Christ, the very word of God, from being watered down and diluted until it no longer resembles the Word, but rather the ideas of men. And this is being done not by us, the followers of Jesus, but by religious leaders.

Jesus’s words warn us that it is what is in our hearts that either honor him or defile us. We are not defiled by what we receive, but by what we believe. Sound religious doctrine comes not from the lips of men, but from the words of God. When we defame our neighbor, gossip about a friend, we cannot redeem ourselves by paying lip service to a set of rules. When we interpret Scripture beyond the bounds of its normal and intended meaning, we do violence to God’s Word and defile his message.

It seems that God’s people will always be called upon to exercise discernment. Sometimes we are blessed with great leadership. Sometimes not. Whatever the circumstance, the words of our Savior remind us that we are to hear and understand. If our leaders try to tell us that which is not firmly rooted in the Word of God, then what they tell us is not of God. If not of God, then they will be rooted up in time. They are but the blind leading the blind and they are not to be followed.

How do we know who to follow? How do we know if they are right? One way is to ask this? Does what we are hearing, what we are doing, glorify God? If it does not, then chances are pretty good that it glorifies us or someone else. If what we hear glorifies God, then the message may be worth hearing. We have God’s Word with which to compare it. If it cannot pass the glorification test, then it should be suspect.

As Isaiah says, don’t let your heart be far from God. Let your words glorify God. Let your actions be consistent with those words. Expect that of your leaders as well.

Yes, saying can be defiling. It can poison relationships, wound people, destroy trust. But if we hear and understand, then what we say can enrich and honor God, our neighbor and ourselves.

          If You Want to Walk on Water…

                                            Matthew 14: 22-33

 

 

            Ever heard of Charles Blondin? He was the first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. In 1860, on a rope suspended 160 feet above the falls, he walked a quarter of a mile across. He did it not once, but a number of times, He did it in a sack. He did it on stilts. He did it on a bicycle, in the dark, even blindfolded. Once he actually carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the walk. On one occasion, Blondin carried a sack of potatoes in a wheelbarrow. When he safely reached the other side of the falls, Blondin asked the crowd, “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd enthusiastically yelled back “Yes. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe” Then, Blondin asked for a volunteer. “Okay,” he said. “Who wants to get in the wheelbarrow?” As the story goes, no one volunteered that day. Even though the crowd enthusiastically said that it believed, there were no takers when he asked for volunteers. They had faith, but not that kind of faith.

There is a story about a mountain climber who trained for years to climb the Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. Nicknamed the Stone Sentinel, it is almost 23,000 feet high. Of course, he wanted all the glory so he set out to do it alone. He did not turn back at dusk or even nightfall, even though he was not prepared to spend the night. He was high up the mountain and it was a pitch black night. Nevertheless he kept going. As he was climbing a ridge about 100 meters from the top, he slipped and fell. In the next few seconds, his life flashed before him as he knew he was going to die. Miraculously, his guide rope held, though it almost cut him in half when it stopped his fall. When he recovered his breath, he cried out in the darkness for help from God. 

All of a sudden, he heard a deep voice from heaven. “What do you want me to do? asked God. “Save me,” cried the man. “Do you really believe that I can save you? asked God. “Of course,” said the man. “Then cut the rope that is holding you up,” said God. The next day, the rescue team found the frozen climber dead and still clinging tenaciously to his rope…two feet off the ground. He had faith, but not that kind of faith.

In the fourteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus hears of the death of his cousin John the Baptist. Jesus had deep respect for his cousin. He had sought him out for baptism when it came time to begin his earthly ministry. Jesus tried to withdraw in a boat. He wanted to be

by himself. It was not to be. He had just fed the five thousand and they would not leave him alone. Many among the crowds following him wanted to crown him king, though Jesus would have no part of that. Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and begin the five mile or so trip across the Sea of Galilee. He stayed behind. He dismissed the crowd and went up on a mountain to pray. He needed to be alone with God.

          The evening came and Jesus was still on the shore. The disciples had run into foul weather. The wind was up and holding them back from any progress across the sea. It was late. It was in the fourth watch that Jesus came to them. The Romans divided the night into four watches. The fourth watch was from 3 until 6 in the morning. The dead of night.

          Have you ever been at sea or on a lake during a storm? It can come up quickly and it can be very scary. Nature has a way of reminding us how temporary our safety really is, how fleeting our security can be. The disciples in the boat that night were having those feelings when they saw someone walking by. They were in the middle of the sea in a storm and someone was walking on the water! Matthew says that they were terrified. They were screaming.

          And Jesus said “It is I.” Actually a more accurate translation of the Greek would be I am. It is no accident that Matthew uses language we have heard before when God talked to Moses. Matthew wants us to make that connection. “I am,” says Jesus, and it is the voice of God talking to us.

          Peter, always the impetuous one, breaks the silence. He challenges Jesus. “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water”, he says. And Jesus says simply: “Come.” The next line is one of my favorites in all the Bible. The ESV says: “So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to [or toward] Jesus.” So simple. And yet, contained in that one line is enough testimony to last a lifetime. Jesus commanded and Peter responded. Peter stepped out on faith.

          There are so many sub themes in this short passage, which is found only in Matthew. Mark tells it but says nothing about Peter. What is Matthew trying to show us? Let’s look at the players.

          There is Jesus. We first find him sad. His cousin is dead. He alone is the prophet left standing. He is both sad and tired. His message is not being received the way it is intended. He goes off by himself to commune with God and recharge. Yes, even Jesus got tired. Remember, he was fully human as well as divine. Of course, there is much more to Jesus in this passage, but we will hold that for later.

          There are the other disciples. They were terrified. They cried out in fear. They watched as Peter stepped out of the boat into the storm and walked toward Jesus. They watched, but they did not come. They stayed in the boat and watched. When it was all over and the wind had ceased and everyone was safe in the boat, then they worshipped Jesus, calling him the Son of God.

          Then there is Peter. Thank God for Peter. What would we do without the Peters of the world! Remember that famous line? “Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.” Peter did three things. First, he got out of the boat. Wow. That, to me, is often the hardest part. If you can just bring yourself to get out of the boat, then there a good chance that the rest will fall into place.  You can’t effect change, you can’t participate, when you’re watching from the sidelines. Instead of sitting on the margins of life, instead of watching others do, why not just get out of the boat!

Second, Peter walked on water. Wow again! How did he do that? Well, he was obeying Jesus. He was looking at Jesus. He had his focus where it belonged and his mind was on the right thing. It had not yet occurred to Peter that he could fail or sink or even drown, because he had his eyes on Jesus. So he walked on water just like his Savior was doing.

Third, Peter came to Jesus. Perhaps, this is the most telling phrase of all. Why did Peter get out of the boat? Why was he able to walk on water? Because he was coming to Jesus. It was only when he began to think about himself, and the wind and the elements around him that he began to sink. He allowed himself to think about all the ways he could fail instead of focusing on the one true way to succeed. Peter lost his focus and he began to sink. But even when he hesitated, Peter cried out to Jesus. Jesus reached out his hand and took hold of Peter, and Peter was saved.

Jesus says “O you of little faith, why did you doubt,” and for just a moment, we find ourselves identifying with Peter because of his failure, because of his lack of faith. But we should not dwell there, for that is but a snapshot in the life of any Christian, no matter how hard he or she may try, no matter how much faith he or she may have, Instead, we should focus on Peter’s magnificent faith, for he is the only one who had the faith to get out of the boat and come to Jesus! It is of little consequence that he had insufficient faith to get to Jesus on his own. Who of us has ever had such faith? But Peter’s act put him on the path, and when he faltered, as each of us does, he called out to Jesus. And Jesus reached out and made him safe.

The rest of the disciples never moved. They watched from the sidelines as Peter stepped out on faith. They celebrated when Jesus came to them. They acknowledged him as the Son of God. But they stayed in the boat. Just like the crowd at Niagara Falls, just like the climber holding on to the rope, they held back.  Thank God for Peter, the man who thought with his lips, the fellow who stepped out without looking down.

In this post-modern world in which we live, matters of faith have been reduced by many, including Christians, to any size fits. Individuals decide how, how much and to what to apply their faith. The church is sitting in the boat just like the other disciples, and in doing so, it is not reaching for Jesus. It will not work.

Phillips Brooks once said this about strength and I think it applies equally to matters of faith.

          Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger

          people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your

powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle

but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall

wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which

has come to you by the grace of God.

 

Like Peter, we should put our faith into our sandals and take a walk. When we begin to sink, and we will, we just need to call out for Jesus. He is there and he will get us safely to our destination. That’s the thing about faith. You can’t see it, but it’s there. If you want to get to God, you have to reach back for him when he calls. You do that on faith. And you need to remember one simple thing. If you want to walk on water, you’ve gotta get out of the boat!

Reaching for the Blessing

                                            Genesis 32: 22-31

 

 

            Today we take a look at one of us. It’s only a snapshot, but even then, it’s revealing. With a couple exceptions, a reading of the book of Genesis is a trip through some of the most conniving, dysfunctional, stubborn people you ever want to meet. The story of Jacob is no exception. This passage reveals a turning point in Jacob’s life. While we look at part of Jacob’ journey, it’s a good time to take a look at ourselves as well, for you will find more similarities than you first thought you would.

          We all know the story of Jacob, how he was a twin of Esau, how he was born holding on to the leg of his brother, trying to be first even then. We all know the stories of him trading a bowl of porridge to Esau for his birthright, of him fooling old Jacob into giving him the firstborn’s blessing. We remember that he has to leave town to avoid his brother’s anger, and that he later becomes known as Israel, the father of the twelve tribes of the nation by the same name. But what about in between?  We don’t remember the in between stuff quite as well, but it is essential if we are to understand how Jacob came to his maturity. It was quite a long road. And it was not walked alone.

          Jacob. In Hebrew, the name has several meanings. In its adjective form and in the female noun, it means deceitful. It also means supplanter.  Either way, it’s not flattering. Names had such high importance to the culture that it was certainly not an auspicious start for this younger twin. As he grew, he did much to earn his name.

          So after deceiving both his brother and his father, Jacob is sent to his uncle to get a new start and take a wife. Some would say he met his match in uncle Laban. The deceiver was deceived in his marriage plans. But let’s back up, because this story is really not about Jacob. Like all Bible stories, this story is about God.

          In between leaving home with only a staff in his hand and becoming a very rich man and the patriarch of the twelve tribes, Jacob had to do some growing. He had always been reaching for the blessing. He did it with Esau. He did it with Isaac. He was always reaching for things beyond his grasp. We can admire his tenacity if not his ethics.

          So Jacob left home and journeyed toward Haran. He came to a place to stop for the night ant he used a stone for a pillow. He dreamed and in his dream, he was still reaching for the blessing. He saw a ladder that went to heaven. God spoke to him and made him a promise, that his offspring would spread all over the world as heavy as the dust of the earth; that he would not leave him until it was done.

          Jacob had just had his first epiphany. He woke and the dream stayed with him. He had been given a promise from God. Jacob thought that God must surely be in that place so he made a pillar from the stone to commemorate the place. He called it Bethel, which means house of God.  Then Jacob made a promise, that if God would do all he said, then Jacob would make him his God. How thoughtful. Notice what happened here. God made Jacob an unconditional promise. No strings. Then Jacob returned the favor with a conditional promise, a “if you do this, then I’ll do that” promise. He was still reaching for the blessing, just as he had at home.

          Fast forward about twenty years. Jacob has finally married his beloved Rachel and Joseph has been born. Jacob has been in the service of his uncle the whole time. Jacob has proved quite a sheep and goat farmer. Laban is a rich man and the leftovers for Jacob are pretty impressive too. But Laban refuses Jacob’s request to leave, and leave with some livestock. Jacob has another dream in which God tells him to leave.  And what does Jacob do? He carves out a piece of the herd by using some genetic breeding, then leaves in secret. He has taken his own blessing without consent.

          In order to return to his own country, Jacob must face Esau, his twin. He sends out an advance peace offering, but his messengers return saying that Esau is on the way with four hundred men. The Bible does not say why Esau gathered so many men together, but it is clear that Jacob thought he knew why. The last time he had seen his brother, it was in his rush to leave before Esau did him in. Jacob is in a panic. He divides his herds. He spreads them out. He moves his family across the river and spends the night by himself. Jacob has issues. What will happen when he meets Esau, the brother whose blessing he stole?

          Well now, this is a great story, but it has nothing to do with us. We don’t live a nomadic lifestyle. We don’t have sheep and goats. We don’t have polygamy or serve seven years to be able to marry. We don’t cheat our siblings or lie to our parents. All that may be true, but I still find myself squirming in my chair when I write this message. Why is that?

One reason is that we are painfully aware of how often we have reached for a blessing that was not meant for us, wanting to be loved the best, honored the most, awarded the most. Striving to live in the biggest house in the best neighborhood, to be captain of the team, to be chief cheerleader, editor of the paper, mother of the year. Some of us are always reaching for the blessing, whether or not we should receive it. Just like Jacob, we want it, so we should have it. No matter that it belongs to or should go to someone else.

Another way occurs to me. We keep getting these signs along the way. God keeps talking to us. In spite of some very clear direction, We manage to spin such messages to suit our desires. We reach for our blessing, not God’s. We want to have this job and God makes it decline or go away, for we have reached for the wrong thing. We want to live in this place and this way and have these friends and God sends us signs, changes our circumstances. Yet still, we reach for what we want.

Jacob had always battled, He whined to his mother and she helped him get his way. He whined to Rachel and she helped him get his way. He battled his brother, then his father, then his stepfather. Now he must battle his brother again. He is scared and he is confused. He doesn’t know how to stack the deck in his favor. He is forced to confront himself. Is this a battle he can win? There seems to be no place to hide, although he is trying to use even the desert expanse to hide in the open, using distance as his tool. Now the messengers have arrived with the news of his brother’s small army advancing his way. Now Jacob acts like one of us again. Now when he is out of options, Jacob turns to God.

After coming all this way, Jacob was alone. His wife, his children, his possessions were across the river, out of sight and he was alone. I think I have been in that place. I bet you have too. Alone. It’s nighttime, it’s dark. Everyone is gone and you have decisions to make. Big decisions. You know you are at a crossroads and nothing that you can think of promises a solution. The closer you get to the thing you reach for, the more unlikely it seems that you can grasp it. And you are scared, because people are depending on you and you don’t have the answer. That’s when the fear is at its greatest, because you know that you are not capable of getting there.

And a man wrestled with Jacob. Depending on whom you read, the man was God, or God’s angel or God’s messenger. Jacob certainly felt that he had been in the presence of God. They wrestled all night. As day was breaking, the man touched Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint, Yet Jacob continued to cling to the man through his pain. He was desperate. One can easily imagine that Jacob knows instinctively that his life hangs in the balance of what happens next. This is no ordinary wrestling match between two men. This is much, much more. So Jacob says to this “man:” “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Jacob must have known somewhere deep inside himself that this was an encounter with God, and he asked for God’s blessing. The morning and all its consequences were coming at Jacob in a rush and now above all other times, he reached for the blessing.

And the messenger of God said to Jacob, “what is your name?” Jacob, the deceiver answered, to which God’s messenger responded; “No more. From now on, you are Israel.”  There are different interpretations of the meaning of this name, but the one which I believe best captures what was meant is that Israel means God has prevailed.

I think that is what happened there at Peniel. That’s what Jacob, now Israel, named the place. It means “I have seen God, and yet live.” God prevailed. After all those encounters with Jacob, at Bethel, at Haran, at Peniel, God had prevailed over Jacob. Long ago, God had given Jacob a promise. On a lonely night in the desert so many years later, God gave Jacob a blessing. At long last, Jacob was ready. He had been to the valley. He had suffered loss. He had felt hardship. As our Lord Jesus might say, Jacob finally had “ears to hear.” It is fitting that this happened after Jacob was touched. Then he was broken. It was when he was broken that he was able to reach for the right blessing.

Jacob’s real battle was never with men, whether they were brothers or fathers or complete strangers. His real battle was with God. He had to face God and make things right before he could face his brother. This time, when Jacob reached for the blessing, he was reaching in the right place. This time, Jacob received the blessing he had chased all his life. Now do you see what I meant when I said that the story is never about the Jacobs of the Bible. It’s always about God.

I’m trying to do that these days. The Lord knows how many times I have reached in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons. But I learn. They say the definition of stupid is doing the same thing in the same way over and over and expecting a different outcome. I’m slow, but I’m not stupid. I’m trying to stand still, listen long…and reach for that which my Father wants me to grasp. I know that as I do that, I will also receive his blessing.

You should try it too.