Living in the Spirit
July 31, 2017
Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ 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.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Going home whether actually or figuratively is a meaningful process. We all do it to one degree or another. I remember my first visit home after being in college for probably two months. I had left an environment just months before where I thought I was a top dog as a senior in high school even though my home town was tiny; my graduating class totaled seven people. While my college was small by most standards with an enrollment of around 1000, it was big to me. I grew up on a farm so moving to a small city was also a giant step. I do not remember thinking about it much though. What I do remember on that first visit home was attending a play at the high school and being astonished at how very small the auditorium was. When I had stood on that stage doing plays just the previous year, it might as well have been the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The auditorium had not changed; I had changed.
Jacob was away from home for many years, raised a large family and by any measure accumulated wealth. He was still Isaac’s son, Esau’s brother both of whom he had deceived on his way out of town. He learned what that felt like very quickly as his father-in-law tricked him into marrying the bride he did not choose. Jacob was dealing with who he had been, who he was at the time, and who he would become as he readied to reintegrate with his family. He had encountered God at Bethel the first night he left home. It was appropriate that he encounter God again on his return trip.
I have learned with age that it is better to wrestle out our selfhood including fears and misgivings with God before entering into relationships with others. Our projections of what others may think often get in the way of meaningful encounter. We need to rid ourselves of unnecessary personal baggage as much as possible before we can deal well with others. Wholeness leads to oneness.
Prayer: Lord, create in us clean hearts and right spirits so we can grow together into the full Body of Christ. Amen.