Heel Turn [Proper 24C - Genesis 32:22-31]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Genesis 32:22-31

 

Heel Turn

Christ Church, Cooperstown

 

Jacob was a heel.  It was right there in his name.  He was branded a bad guy at birth.  It’s not that he was evil, per say, but he did have a history of morally questionable behavior.  And it started in the womb.

 

It can be hard to outrun a name.  Or overcome a first impression.  Jacob struggled with both.  Because his name was the first impression.  And it stuck.  It could have been a cute story of how twins like to stick together.  But that is not how his parents, or the Bible, told the birth story.  When mom and dad, Rebekah and Isaac, saw Jacob’s little hand gripping the heel of his slightly older brother, they decided that the younger one would always be scheming to supplant the older one.  The name Jacob in Hebrew is related to the word for “heel,” and the phrase “one who grasps the heel” would have been an ancient way of alluding to a “supplanter” or a “deceiver.”

 

Jacob’s name became his destiny.  His history was a series of schemes – plans to get his way.  And he typically did get his way.

 

His brother, Esau, was the mark of his most famous trick.  Perhaps you remember that Jacob bought his brother’s birthright      for a bowl of lentil soup – not even the best soup, in my opinion.  Soup and some well-placed goat skin left big brother Esau without his inheritance and without his father’s blessing.  Jacob’s name came true: he did supplant his brother and he is the heel in the story of his own life.

 

The growing hostility in the household drove Jacob into the wider world – but never beyond the presence of his merciful God.  On his journey, away from his home and far from the rage of his scorned brother, Jacob is never left alone.  And when he feels the most alone, he always finds God is with him – sometimes God even shows up with a stairway to heaven.

 

But even a glimpse of Heaven did not save Jacob from the shackles of his name.  In our story today, Jacob is once again on the run – this time away from his father-in-law and into the arms of the brother with whom he has not yet reconciled.  Jacob is between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.

 

As we join the story, in today’s Genesis reading, Jacob is bracing for impact with the hard place.  He has just received word that his brother Esau is riding out to meet him with four hundred men.  Given their history this does not sound like good news for Jacob.  He is terrified.  He is on the verge of losing everything – everything he swindled so hard to get: his two wives, his two concubines, I mean maids (our text says maids, so we’ll go with that euphemism) his flocks and herds, and even his eleven children.  Also his life.  Because the last time he saw his brother, Esau was mad enough to kill him. 

 

To protect his family, Jacob sends them away and goes ahead on his own.  To face his fears.  And to meet his fate. 

 

Alone on the banks of the Jabbok River, Jacob is finally trapped by his own history, his own schemes, and his own name. And it is here, when Jacob has nowhere left to run, that he has his final, unexpected reckoning... a wrestling match that will turn his whole life, and his bad-guy brand, around.

 

What we know about Jacob’s mysterious visitor is only the impression he leaves on his opponent.  The text does not explicitly tell us that the stranger was God.  The author says it was a man.  But Jacob had striven with mortals for his entire life.  And so he knew that this was different.  And he emerged from the encounter a changed man. 

 

As the sun broke the sky, Jacob testified, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”  He lived to tell the story, but he always wore the scars.  His limp was a reminder of his sacred wrestling match.

 

And even though he could no longer run, he finally outran his name.  No longer a deceiver, he is now known as the one who wrestles with God: Israel.

 

The new name was not meant to say that Jacob had yet another adversary.  This name was a sign of intimacy.  To wrestle with God, one must be close to God. 

 

In his loneliest moment, plagued by fear, afraid of the future, Jacob finally stopped running and fell into the arms of God.  And he discovered that God loved him enough to wrestle with him.  And though their encounter was messy, God could handle the mess.  God wasn’t afraid of Jacob’s loneliness or fear or flailing fists.  For once he was truly seen.  And the God who saw him, was not afraid to hold onto his thrashing soul.

 

God knows us and loves us.  God sees the cracks in our history.  God understands our failings and foibles.  God knows we are prone to lash out and run away.  But despite our open wounds and flailing fists, God still dares to get close.  And holds on.  And promises to steady our shaky souls so that we can heel turn into a better future.