Loading...Sermon October 16, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost Year C Track 2 Proper 24
Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Genesis 32:28
Please be seated.
Do you know why you were given your names? Were they from a family member or a family tradition? In some cultures, a child is named after grandparents. Or maybe your name came from a popular actor or personage during the time.
My parents were living in Western Arkansas when I was born. My father was stationed there in the army. My parents told me about trying to choose a girl’s name. My father wanted to name me Sally. My mother was Roman Catholic, so the name had to be from the Bible. Finally, they decided upon Rebecca Sue. You see, they wanted me to always remember I was born in the south and they thought Becky Sue would remind me of that. When I lived in Kentucky at least one parishioner thought I’d do much better if I used Becky Sue as my name. I just couldn’t do it! Many of the women there used two names.
In our first reading today, we hear about an incident in Jacob’s life. Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebecca and grandson of Abraham and Sarah and Bethuel. Jacob was a manipulator and with the help of his mother, stole his twin brother’s birthright. With the help of his mother Jacob fled to the home of Laban, Rebecca’s brother and Jacob’s Uncle. There Jacob met Laban’s daughter, Rachel and asked to marry her. But Laban fooled Jacob, which only seemed fair since Jacob had fooled Isaac, and Jacob ended up marrying Laban’s daughter Leah, who was older than Rachel. In order to marry Rachel, Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven years.
Then Jacob deceived Laban. Jacob wanted to go back to his parents, but Laban wanted him to stay. Laban hoped that giving a gift of sheep and goats to Jacob would make him stay. Laban said all of the goats and sheep that were spotted, brown or speckled would be Jacob’s. Jacob put various tree branches in the water for the animals, supposedly turning their wool brown, spotted or speckled. When Laban found out, he ordered Jacob to leave.
Our reading today occurs one night while Jacob and his large family are on their journey. Jacob wrestles with a “man.” We’re not sure if it’s an angel or God. During the wrestling, the “man” strikes Jacob’s thigh, injuring Jacob and giving him a limp for the rest of his life. As day approaches, the “man” tells Jacob to let him go, but Jacob demands a blessing. The “man” gives Jacob a new name – Israel. Jacob gets a new name. We don’t know what Israel means with certainty. Some translations say it means “He struggles with God.” Another interpretation is “prince of God.” But why does Jacob receive a new name?
Jacob receives the new name, Israel, because he has been changed. He is not the same man he was just the day before. This wrestling with the “man” has changed him and made him different. We see how different Jacob is in the succeeding Chapters of Genesis. For instance, he reconciles with his brother Esau.
The night Jacob wrestled with the “man” Jacob knew he was at the mercy of God. Jacob had the limp to remind him of that night every day for the rest of his life.
When my father died in January of 2011, I was going through some of his papers. I found a letter he had written to good friends. The friends were going through a very difficult time and my father felt compelled to write to these friends, sharing his own experience.
My father talked about a very difficult period in his and my mother’s lives. There was a recession and his law practice business was nearly nonexistent. My mother lost her parttime job. My father lost his re-election campaign for a local government post. There was infighting in their church and one of the pastors left and the suggestion for a new pastor was rejected.
My mother and father, pillars of faith in my view, nearly lost their faith. They nearly gave up on each other.
But things did get better. Business picked up and my mother found a new job. My parents were aware of how fragile life can be. They were in a new and different place. What had the experience taught them? My father concluded the letter with these words:
What great lessons have I learned? That despite all of my efforts, ability and good work, I don’t have final control over my economic security. That despite all of my good intentions, I can’t control the actions of others. That despite all of the love that Mary and I have for each other, there is no guarantee that we will be able to solve our problems. That despite all of my faith in God, I will lose heart, fall into despair and become angry every time life deals me a heavy blow.
Some would say that I should have learned all of these things years ago, and perhaps I should have. But, for whatever reason, I didn’t. Am I happy about the lessons? Not particularly – at least not yet. Maybe I will be someday, but for now I would just as soon not have taken the course.
But I wasn’t given the choice and, I suppose, that is the most important lesson. Where hardship and suffering are concerned, life doesn’t give us a choice. The size of our bank account, our IQ, how regularly we attend Church, how clean a slate we have – none of it matters a damn. We are all subject to adversity. When, finally, we are stripped of all of our ego and all of our possessions, we can for the first time begin to understand that the only thing we can rely on is God’s mercy. What a helluva hard lesson that is for a proud person to learn!
When, finally, we are stripped of all of our ego and all of our possessions, we can for the first time begin to understand that the only thing we can rely on is God’s mercy. What a helluva hard lesson that is for a proud person to learn!
That night when Jacob wrestled with the man, he was stripped of his ego. His injury reminded him of that for the rest of his life. His new name Israel reminded him of this wrestling for the rest of his life. That night he learned in a new way that the only thing he could rely upon was God’s mercy.
May we also know that the only stable, reliable thing in our lives is God’s mercy. Amen
