~ Reminiscere ~
Readings: Genesis 32:22-32 | 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 | Matthew 15:21-28
Text: Genesis 32:22-32
A few weeks ago, we heard the Parable of the Sower, where our Lord says:
13The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. (Luke 8:13-15)
Now, it’s easy from the comfort of reading your Bible to disdain those who were put through a time of testing and fell away, or those whose faith died in favor for the cares of this life. And wouldn’t it be nice is good soil were an innate quality where the Word of God would bear fruit easily.
But this parable is the long view of the life of discipleship. When you see it from the ground, up close and dirty, you’re there on the shore of the Jabbok with Jacob.
He has had to flee home partly because of his own lousy behavior, partly because of the rage of his jealous brother, and even in part because of favoritism displayed by his parents. He’s been working hard for his uncle for 14 years, in which time he’s married two wives and faced all kinds of marital strife. To put the story of Jacob’s life from Genesis 27 up till here in 32, briefly, Jacob is a man who’s living with his decisions on top of the things that have happened out of his control. Perhaps you can relate. Trouble doesn’t wait for clear weather, because all the time he’s afraid of his brother, Esau, He’s also a man concerned for his family and household.
22 The same night [Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, 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.
Martin Luther writes about this:
“After he had crossed, however, he separated himself from his whole family in a lonely spot and prayed with great anxiety because he was still full of terrors and weakness. He chose a lonely spot because solitude is very well suited to those who are praying, also in the daytime. For when prayer is serious and ardent, we do not readily allow those words to be heard which we pour out before God in a rather inept manner...
“Nighttime, moreover, is especially suitable for temptations, as is stated above in chapter 15:17: “After sunset, when it became dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot, etc.” Darkness of itself saddens and dejects the hearts of all men and cattle also. On the other hand, the dawning light of day gladdens all living things… It is a time suitable for tribulations and prayer, to which tribulation forces man. Therefore his ardor to pray increased, but in the greatest of infirmity. (Luther’s Works, vol. 6 p. 123)
Jacob finds himself in the lowest point in his life so far, and he is pouring out his heart to God. Similarly, David would pray several centuries later, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.” (Psalm 6:6–7) And while it’s good to pray to God in times of distress, the way God replies might seem puzzling:
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, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Now, the parable of the sower doesn’t get into this detail, but how is it that the good soil becomes so fruitful? To take an agricultural mystery about God from another place, Jesus explains in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” If we just look at it from the perspective of our sinful flesh, we’d find all kinds of unfairness with what Jacob is made to suffer. But what our flesh misses is God working for His beloved children. Faith and hope are not a cake walk; they are cultivated by our Father in heaven who uses our earthly circumstances to shape and mature us. All the while, His almighty hand is guiding and ruling the situation.
And why? Why the toil? Why the tears? Why the sleepless nights? It doesn’t make any sense in the moment. Yet, our trustworthy God has the whole of our life in view:
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:7-11)
The chief significance of this story, then, is the example of perfect saints and of temptations in high degree, not against flesh, blood, the devil, and a good angel but against God appearing in hostile form. For although Jacob does not know who this man is, he nevertheless feels that he has been forsaken by God or that God is opposed to him and angry with him. (AE 6:134)
God tempts no one. We pray in this petition… Severe affliction can lead us to doubt if God is really on our side.
Amen.
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