Wrestling with the God who renames us

PPT – Genesis and family tree

1.   The book of Genesis [Bible [Project]

2.   Chapters 1-11; creation, all is good, then downhill.

3.   Chapters 12-50; Abraham and descendants

a.   Abraham – blessed to be a blessing

b.   Last week we heard about the covenant God made with Abraham, the birth of Ishmael and the birth of Isaac.

c.    Jacob steals the blessing from his brother Esau

d.   Jacob wrestles – reading today

e.   Joseph hated by his brothers and sold into slavery

f.     Joseph saves the family in time of famine

4.   Family tree

a.   Interbreeding

5.   12 tribes of Israel

In the readings these past few weeks, all have had something to do with names.

In Genesis chapter 2, Adam is made from the Adamah [earth], and then from Adam comes ish and ishah, the man and the woman.

Last week the names of Abram and Sari were changed to Abraham and Sarah.

This week Jacob is renamed Israel.

Have you ever changed your name? many of the women will have changed their surnames when they married, something that happens less often these days. I know when I changed my surname from Bannister to Lawrence, it was like undoing what my mother had done, as my mother’s maiden name was also Lawrence.

Have you changed your name, or the name you are known by? I know growing up different groups of people called me different names. At school I was Pat, at home and with family Trish or Trisha, when I started going to Sunday School, there I was called Patty. That meant in my teenage years I was known by three different names.

What does your name, or your choice of name say about you?

What name does God use when talking with you?

Sometimes we name people in ways that are unhelpful - stupid, sissy, nerd, failure ….

How might God rename you? gift, beloved, creative …  

The relationship between Esau and Jacob

Abraham and Sarah waited into their old age to have Isaac. Isaac marries Rebekah, they have twin sons. Esau was born first, and Jacob was holding onto his heel. therefore, Esau was granted all the rights of being the eldest son.  Jacob was a deceiver, and deceived.

Jacob took the birthright and blessing that was due to Esau. Esau was hungry and gave Isaac his birthright as eldest, for some food. [25: 29-34] When Isaac was about to die, he asked Esau to go hunting, kill an animal and cook it for him, then he will receive his fathers blessing. But Jacob and Rebeca colluded so that Jacob would get the blessing from Isaac. [chapter 27]

When Esau returns from hunting and cooking, he finds out he has been swindled of the blessing, and vows to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies.

Jacob leaves and goes to his mother’s people, there he works for Laban, his uncle, and falls for one of Laban’s daughters.  Uncle Laban is just as sneaky as Jacob, and after working 7 years to be able to marry Rachel, Jacob wakes up after the wedding night to find he has married Leah. A week later he marries Rachel but must work another seven years for Laban.

More time goes by; after a total of twenty years, Jacob, his wives, servants, children and flocks leave to return home.

Then we get this episode we heard this morning.

Jacob is understandably anxious about how Esau might react to seeing him. Jacob heard that Esau was coming his way with 400 men; that sounds like war! Or a picnic?

Do you always assume the worst scenario in any situation?

  

The Jacob sent ahead some very generous gifts, goats, sheep, camels, cattle and donkeys.

When you read chapter 33, you find out that Esau was please to see Isaac, he runs and hugs and kisses Jacob. Esau tells Jacob he doesn’t need all the animals, he has enough already.

Sometimes what we imagine is not what happens.

Do you usually imagine the worst scenario?

The thing that kept coming to mind for me this week was the idea of wrestling, with ourselves or God or ….

Last week we heard how Abraham and Sarah showed hospitality to three strangers, strangers who had a message from God.

This week we hear of a man who wrestles with Jacob, but is it a man, an angel, or God. or is it Jacob’s own conscious?

“Our physical bodies so often reveal our emotional tensions.  The person who is carrying the weight of the world has shoulders that slump inward, bowed by an invisible, deeply felt burden.  The person who is all bent out of shape emotionally also has mysterious aches and pains.  The one who can’t stand something develops pain in the feet or ankles.  In a similar way, Jacob begins the night wrestling with his own fears about his upcoming meeting with his brother Esau, and then spends the rest of the night wrestling with a mystery figure.  The outer fight mirrors the inner one.” [i]

I wonder what keeps you awake at night; what or who do you wrestle with?

It seems that many people today are unable to sit with their own thoughts, there is always music or games or Television or YouTube – something to stop the thoughts that come in the silence.

What is it we are afraid of?

Is it God, or our pain, our shame, our guilt or our fears?

Has Jacob finally acknowledged and owned his past behaviour?

Just as Jacob was wounded and blessed, struggles change us – we can be both wounded and blessed by a struggle.

I don’t often think about wrestling with God.

I think of encounters with Jesus or God or the Spirit, divine encounters, holy moments – and generally i think of the pleasant ones, where i was comforted, or given a word of peace or encouragement, but if i ma honest, not all encounters with the Holy are pleasant. There are times when God will call me out for something I have done, or not done.

Some of our conversations while I was running away from ordained ministry were not comfortable or comforting.

what do you wrestle with?

How would God rename you?

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[i] https://revgalblogpals.org/2019/09/17/narrative-lectionary-mixed-martial-arts-genesis-329-13-22-30/

God with us?

Timeline slide:

We continue on our journey through the Old testament. 2 weeks ago, we looked at the creation story in genesis chapter 1, where God called all of creation good, and people were created in the image of God.

Last week we met Abraham and his son Isaac, this week we heard about Isaac as an adult.

Map 1:

Here is a map showing where Abraham travelled, he started in Ur, in what is often referred to as the fertile crescent, travelled to Egypt, then back to Canaan.

Map 2:

This map shows Beersheba, where the first part of today’s story takes place; Haran where Jacob is headed for, to take refuge with his mother’s brother; and Bethel, where he had the dream.

Before we get to the dream, some cultural background. As the eldest son, Esau would receive double share of the inheritance, this was his birthright. So, if there were 2 sons, the inheritance would be would be divvied into thirds, with the eldest son getting two thirds.

Esau had come home from hunting one day, famished, and asked Isaac for some of the food he had prepared. Isaac gave him the food, only after Esau had given him his birthright. Esau had given Isaac double portion of the inheritance.

The we come to the first part of story we heard today. Isaac is about to die, and there is a blessing to be given, a blessing also usually given to the eldest son, though there are sometimes when that did not happen.  

“This blessing was considered to be powerful in its own right, the spoken word had its own power, and as a claim upon God’s desires: that the one blessed would have a special purpose and vocation. Once blessed it meant a life-changing situation, both for you and for your entire family. In other words, to be blessed is not to be taken lightly, it changes everything.” [i]

Now Jacob has what Esau thought he would have, the larger share of inheritance, the blessing and being the head of household/extended family after his father’s death.

Many people will have arguments with family, but Esau and Jacob have taken sibling rivalry to a new level. Jacob has tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing; though I wonder was Isaac really fooled by Jacob and his covering of goat skin.

We can’t forget Rebekah’s part in scheming against here elder son, and now she tells Jacob to go to her brother’s place in Haran – about a month’s walk.

And then the dream. For people of this time, a dream was a way that divine encounters took place. Jacob doesn’t say, I dreamed about God being here, he says God was in this place.[ii]

Surely someone who has behaved as badly as Jacob should be rebuked, chastised, punished and shunned.

God spoke to Jacob saying:

I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you—I will do all I have promised. [Genesis 28]

And the covenant is confirmed. Abraham was told he would have as many offspring as the stars in the sky, and now Jacob is told descendants will become as numerous as the specks of dust. The covenant will live thorough Jacob, the schemer, who will meet his match with his Uncle Laban. That story is not in our set of readings, so feel free to read the next few chapters to see what happens next.

It seems to me that God chooses on a different basis to us. When we read of the call of David in a month or so, we are told that God looks at the heart not looks, yet here, the heart is …?

.. well Jacob is open to meeting God, even as he runs from his brother.

While it is easy to think of God being present in places that are ‘Holy’, the encounter between Jacob and God happened in an ordinary place, just where Jacob slept at the end of the day.[iii]

While it is great that people feel comfortable in the church building, and in worship; that is not the only place God is found. While I have had powerful experiences of God in worship and church settings, I have also had powerful experiences of God sitting in a park and waiting at the airport.

In reading the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they named the places where they sensed God as sacred places, not the other way around.

As we baptised this beautiful child this morning, we read that beautiful poem,

[name],

for you Jesus Christ has come,

has lived, has suffered;

for you he endured the agony of Gethsemane

and the darkness of Calvary;

for you he uttered the cry, ‘It is accomplished!’

For you he triumphed over death;

for you he prays at God’s right hand;

for you, Chloe,

even before you were born.

In baptism, the word of the apostle is confirmed:

‘We love, because God first loved us’.[iv]

I am reading a book called Life with God; this part comes from the notes in the front:

Through Scripture we hear[d] God whispering down through the centuries:
‘I am with you!’
‘I am with you!’
‘I am with you!’
Then, we hear[d] God asking a question that searches the human person to the depths:
‘Are you willing to be with Me?’
The Scripture reveals that saying ‘yes’ to this invitation thrusts human beings into life with God … daily … hourly … moment by moment.[v]

And that is part of our baptism, and part of life each day; hearing that whisper from God: I am with you!

‘Are you willing to be with God?’

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[i] Spill the Beans, Issue 24

[ii] http://www.enterthebible.org/oldtestament.aspx?rid=20

[iii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3309

[iv] Uniting in Worship 2 Baptism service

[v] Richard Foster; Life with God, 

Life is complicated

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,  the names roll so easily off our tongues.

these are the patriarchs of the Jewish, and Christian faith.

you think your family is complicated, let’s have a look at this family tree.

look at the chart – Terah, the father of Abraham had 3 sons and 4 daughters – that we know of.  [http://dwell316.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/biay-h-02-abraham-family.pdf ]

Abraham is the father of Ishmael, Isaac and other children, at least 2 more sons –  and 2 wives as well as having a relationship with Hagar which resulted in the birth of Ishmael.

In Genesis chapter 24, we read of the meeting of a servant sent to find Isaac a wife, and Rebekah.  a great great granddaughter of Terah, who is also the grandfather of Isaac.

Rebekah and Isaac have twin sons – Esau and Jacob. we heard about Jacob in todays reading from Genesis. these two were fighting before they were born, and later Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing that belonged to the older son, which was Esau. so Jacob is running away from Esau.

and the story continues with Jacob meeting up with shepherds, as Rachel comes to water the sheep of her father, who happens to be Jacobs uncle. and Jacob wants to Marry Rachel and her father says yes, but you have to work for me for 7 years. then Jacob is tricked and marries Rachel’s sister Leah, and he works for Laban another 7 years to marry Rachel.

what a story – it starts with chapter 12 with Abraham leaving his country to follow a call from God.

while we often think of these people as the great fathers of the faith, men of God, but as we read the story, we see they are no angels. so why might these stories even be included?

Today some families have stories handed down through the generations, stories of an uncle who died in the war – or an great grandmother who travelled the world…well, these are the family stories of the offspring of Abraham, stories of how Abraham left the country he was born in, and that his son and grandson chose wives from amongst his people. these are the family stories telling how they would become a great nation, stories that define the family, which ends up being a nation.

but these people were not perfect, just like us they had decisions to make. and as we look back at their lives, some seem hasty and poor choices.

what of our decisions?

looking at the parable in Matthews gospel we read of a farmer who sows wheat, and yet mong the wheat are some weeds, or more specifically tares. Tares is a specific kind of weed, which looks like wheat when it is young. you don’t risk pulling up the young plants as it is difficult to tell the wheat from the weeds. and this was before machines planted wheat in rows, seed was scattered by hand, as we heard about last week.

the young plants look quite similar, but when the seed head develops it is a different shape to wheat. so you need to wait for the right time to separate the wheat from the tares.

what make of this parable? – well looking at the explanation, I suggest this is a parable that tells us to leave the judging to God – you can’t tell which is wheat or weed early in the piece, so just leave for God to work out.

I wonder who are the people we choose to treat as if they are not worth anything?

who are the people we try and exclude?

but I wonder if this parable doesn’t also remind us, that like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we are not wheat or weed, we are both.

this contemporary reading looks at Abraham, Moses, a woman, and Paul.  [from Spill the Beans]

an image: a matter of perspective https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=894074757288596&set=a.188695787826500.54678.188533647842714&type=1

 

life is not simple,

families can be complicated,

options can look similar

choices unclear

 

but God used Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and their offspring

 

 

Dear Lord, our lives are coloured by ambiguity

and we don’t always know the right or best thing to do.

But we do know that your love is guiding us

and that you have called us to live as your people in the world. When we face hard choices,

give us eyes to see the best path forward

and the courage to follow it.

When we make mistakes, forgive us.

When we are hurt by our choices, comfort us.

When we hurt others, help us to reach out to them in love.

And above and beyond all these decisions,

remind us that you still love us

and call us back to this place

that we may be forgiven, renewed, called,

and sent forth once more as your beloved children.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. [David Lose]