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.