This morning we have before us two incidents that involve persistence, conflict, and a resolution that teaches us of the power of perseverance: ours, and God’s.
The reading from Luke is
self-contained and straight-forward. Jesus tells a parable about “a judge who
neither feared God nor respected people” and a widow who was relentless in her
pursuit of justice. Eventually the
woman’s persistence pays off, and the judge gives in, not because he is
concerned for justice, because he’s had enough of her.
In this, I believe that Jesus
is making two points.
1) His first point is a rhetorical question, as he teaches
his disciples to always consider the way things are now, versus how they will
be in the Kingdom or Kin-dom of God: if a judge who respects neither God nor
humans is willing to relent when a just cause is presented over and over again,
can you even imagine how glorious it will be to live in the Kingdom of God,
where such perseverance won’t be necessary, for the heart of God will be
embraced by everyone and dignity will be respected without anyone needing to
harp about it?
2) His second point, views things from the widow’s
standpoint. Widows in that culture,
unless remarried to a family member of the deceased husband, were in a really
tough spot, with few options for financial support. Rather than accepting defeat when she is
cheated, this widow persists in expecting that the world should be a fair, just
place for everyone, including her. She
raises her voice to the judge in court, and she presents her needs to God in
prayer. And with this I can picture Jesus turning to us disciples and saying,
“this is your role, too. When there is
injustice or oppression, don’t sit in polite silence. Pray for those in need and insist on fairness
from those in human authority, for that is what God intends.” Bringing this into our current day, grass
roots movements including the “No Kings” protests are saying enough is enough,
and we recall the United Church of Canada’s new call and purpose, of deep
spirituality, bold discipleship, and daring justice. Our calling is to dare to
push for justice, even when injustice is entrenched, to be bold in speaking
truth to power, even when that is awkward or scary, and to know that at its
heart, every action we take on behalf of the marginalized, including our
prayers, is an action that articulates our love and trust of God.
We set that aside for a
moment, to be picked up later on, as we engage the more nuanced of our two
readings, the story of Jacob, wrestling and striving and emerging with a new
identity. As an aside before doing so: I
admit that I find it a lot easier to delve into this particular story, which
speaks of the formative days of the people of Israel, at a time when there is
at least a process of peaceful intent between Israel and Palestine.
Whenever engaging stories
from the Torah, I attempt to find what a range of contemporary Jewish voices
have to say, out of respect for the faith tradition that first received this
text as scripture, and to come alongside the lively and enduring rabbinic
tradition of truly wrestling with Biblical texts.
And in so doing, Rabbi Dr.
Elliot Dorff and the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ask a question: “With whom
was Jacob wrestling?” And then, they mull some possibilities: “it might be
Jacob wrestling with his own conscience… According to the prophet Hosea, it was
an angel. For the Sages, it was the guardian angel of Esau. The Bible text
itself simply says Jacob was wrestling with “‘a man.’ And Jacob himself had no
doubt - it was God. The adversary himself implies as much when he gives Jacob
the name Israel, [which means] ‘because you have struggled with God and with
man and have overcome.’” What intriguing possibilities!
This incident of Jacob,
wrestling all night, does not arise from nowhere, so let’s review a bit about
Jacob’s back-story. Jacob and his twin
brother Esau were the sons of Rebecca and Isaac, grandsons of Sarah and
Abraham. The sibling rivalry between these
twins was intense right from the womb; the name Jacob means “heel-grabber” as
when Esau was born, tradition says that Jacob was holding on to his brother’s
foot. This rivalry intensified as they
grew to adulthood, with outdoorsy, impulsive Esau closer to his father, and the
more analytical, domestic Jacob closer to his mother. Esau, barely the elder of the two, was to
inherit everything upon his father’s death, but Jacob extracts that inheritance
from him one day when Esau was staggered by hunger, trading some well-timed
lentil stew for the birthright. This got
sealed when Jacob, egged on by his mom, pretended to be his brother, kneeling
down before his blind, ailing father to be blessed, wearing animal pelts to
emulate his rugged brother. (Which makes me wonder, “just how hairy WAS Esau? But
that’s a question for another time.) Interestingly, while I have always
regarded this deception by Jacob as crafty, one of the Jewish sources I
consulted (Chabad.org) saw the will of God in all of this, for by imitating Esau,
his less capable, much more impetuous older brother, Jacob insures that Isaac’s
blessing will go to the brother better suited to the complexity of the task ahead.
Given what we’re seeing in the world of today when an impetuous person has too
much power, I can understand this point of view.
Needless to say, whether it
was “for the best” or not, this reassignment of inheritance and blessing caused
a huge rift between the brothers and Jacob spent much of his adult life in fear
of his intense, angry brother. Recently (Genesis 32:6), Jacob heard “that Esau
was coming to meet him with a force of four hundred men, and, in response tried
diplomacy (sending lavish gifts of herds and flocks to Esau), prayer (‘Save me,
I pray, from the hand of my brother’ Jacob begged to God) and when those did
not work, he readied himself and his camp for war (dividing his household into
two camps so that one at least would survive).
But one chapter later, in
Genesis 33, when Esau finally appears, “all the fears turn out to be unfounded.
He ran to meet Jacob, threw his arms around his neck, kissed him and wept.
There is no anger, animosity or threat of revenge in Esau’s behaviour …and in
reply, Jacob and all his household bowed down to the ground seven times before
Esau.” They were reconciled.
Knowing all that came before
and after Jacob’s night-time wrestling match, we wonder once more who he was
wrestling with, and why? Was he
wrestling with Esau’s guardian angel? With himself? With God? I think the
correct answer, is “yes.” Jacob had a
lot to answer for in his previous behaviour, and he had to wrestle with
that. His brother was furious with him
and wanted him dead, and he had to wrestle with that. And God saw special potential in Jacob in
spite of all this, and Jacob had to wrestle with that too. From this point on, God knew this man not as
Jacob, the heel-grabber defined by his rivalry with Esau, but now as Israel,
“the one who struggled with God and with humans and has overcome”, the one who
would literally and figuratively be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.
To me, this image of
wrestling with self and others and God well-describes a healthy faith life.
Whether one describes themselves as “spiritual”, or “religious,” or both, the
humility and curiosity and engagement that it takes to wrestle with our beliefs
and behaviours, knowing that we might need to change, suggests an openness that
is so needed in the world of today. Our
faith life isn’t primarily about memorization or even being in the right; it
involves actually grappling with the complexities of life, the complexities of
human beings, the complexities of one’s own motivations, and the shortfalls of
our knowledge.
And to do that wrestling is
in itself an important statement of faith.
To wrestle with God, to engage the complexities of human living as we
struggle to discern God’s will, is to imply that there is a God. There is something there, someone real and
impactful and alive for us to wrestle with. And it’s not just the divine that we
are to wrestle with; when we have the opportunity to have an honest engagement
with those of a different mindset, we step away from labelling and dismissal,
and in so doing we acknowledge their personhood. And here, today’s two scripture lessons come
together to make a point.
I know myself well enough to
know that I like it when things are harmonious.
I don’t like it when people are upset with each other. But as much as I would choose harmony if I
could, I have also seen enough
situations, in workplaces and congregations and towns and provinces to realize
that there comes a time when people must speak up against injustice, people need
to “rassle” with their own thoughts and with each other in order to try to
improve the lives of those whose lives are made a misery by public opinion or
government policies. To be a person of
faith is not only to have things conceptually in order, but to do the hard
emotional and spiritual work of confronting my fears and my shadow side. To be a person of faith is to face both my
doubts and my beliefs in ways that equip me to listen and to act. And, to be a person of faith is to be
persistent in taking up the cause of justice, even if that creates conflict,
like the widow’s insistent pleading of her case before an unprincipled judge
until he finally relented. It is so important that people of good will do this
hard work, as we see horrible old attitudes leaking back into common
conversation, and as governments take dead aim at women, immigrants and other people
of colour, first nations and people on disability assistance and trans
folks. It turns out that fights for
justice and equity I thought had been permanently won 40 years ago need to be
won again.
And as we wrestle like Jacob,
as we persist like the widow, we celebrate that even as we persevere, so does
God. Day by day, the outrageous
behaviours and mean-spirited actions that fill our news cycles might suggest an
absentee God, but thankfully, that is not the case. God’s commitment to goodness and grace never
ends. God insists that a love founded in truth, empathy and equity is the very
power of life, and it will prevail. God’s
highest hopes for us, which we learn through our walk with the risen Christ, are
truly relentless.
On this day of worship and
praise, may all this be so. Amen.
References cited:
Dorff, Elliot. https://www.aju.edu/ziegler-school-rabbinic-studies/our-torah/back-issues/wrestling-god
Kaminker, Mendy. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2389625/jewish/Jacob-Wrestles-With-the-Angel.htm
Sacks, Jonathan (in
memoriam), https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/vayishlach/jacob-wrestling/
Also consulted:
Crossan, John Dominic. In
Parables: the challenge of the historical Jesus. NYC: Harper & Row,
1973.
Goldstein, Rabbi Elyse. The
Women’s Torah Commentary. Woodstock, VT:
Jewish Lights Publishing, 2000.
Holbert, John. https://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/surprise-of-grace-john-holbert-07-28-2014
© Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge, 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment