Title: Jacob with Legs
legged Jacob
Genesis 32:22-31, 7th Sunday after Pentecost, July 31, 2011
The main text of the sermon on July 10th was Genesis 25:19-34. This is the story of Jacob buying the birthright with a bowl of red bean soup from his brother Esau, who was born as twins. From that verse to the last 50 chapters of Genesis, the epic of Jacob continues. It is no exaggeration to say that most of Genesis is the story of Jacob. Chapter 4 summarizes the life of Jacob described in Genesis in the form of a play. Chapter 1 is from birth until receiving the blessing of the eldest son from his father Isaac, Chapter 2 is about 20 years of living in Haran, where he lived in Haran, where his uncle lived while avoiding his brother due to the problem of the blessing of the eldest son. , Chapter 4 is the years when Joseph went to Egypt where he was prime minister due to a famine at the end of the day. The main text of today's sermon is the story that happened at the moment of transition from chapters 2 to 3.
Israel, Peniel
Jacob had great success during the 20 years he lived with his uncle Laban. They have 11 sons from four wives. Perhaps because he was good at finances, Jacob also made a big fortune. It has laid the foundation to the point where there is nothing to be envious of. It is similar to how Korean immigrants to the United States succeeded in business. I remembered my hometown. There is one incident that makes Jacob hesitate to return to his hometown. It acted as a kind of trauma. Conflict with his brother Esau. You are well aware of that. You have reached the Jabbok Naru on the way home. Just cross the stream at the naru and you are now Canaan. On the other side, Esau, who had 400 men, was waiting. I still couldn't figure out how my brother would turn out. I sent a present for my brother in advance. It's night. I couldn't delay any longer. Jacob sent his servants to cross the brook safely, his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, as well as all the livestock, including sheep, oxen, and donkeys. You have now crossed the Rubicon River. I can't go back to Haran again. Jacob was left alone.
According to today's text, a man wrestled with Jacob all day long (verse 24). We know this man as an angel. It is said that this man cowardly struck Jacob's thigh, thinking that he could not defeat him. Still, Jacob did not surrender. As the day dawned like this, this man became desperate. He asked him to stop, but Jacob said he would not let him go until he was blessed. This man asked Jacob his name. With the answer of Jacob, he says: “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have overcome” (Genesis 32:28) It is a cartoon-like scene. No matter how strong Jacob is, he cannot defeat the angel with force. Being in a hurry when the day is about to dawn is a scene that only comes out of a demon tale. It is inevitable that the Old Testament has a mythical element. This is because even the biblical writers could not escape from the worldview of that time. It is similar to the fact that the Reformers also believed in the celestial theory. The important thing is to know what the basic meaning of the biblical writers and theologians is.
Jacob had a special experience when he left his hometown 20 years ago. He was on his way to Haran, where his uncle Laban lived to escape his brother Esau, who was running on the road to catch and kill his younger brother. I had a dream while sleeping on a stone in a field. I could see a ladder reaching up to the sky, and I could see the angels going up and down on it. I heard a word from heaven. It is said that the LORD will protect Jacob. Jacob named the place Bethel, which means the house of God (Genesis 28). Even at that time, Jacob suffered from extreme anxiety and experienced God. was afflicted with it and given the name Israel The epic about Jacob is like a house built with these two traditions as pillars. Through this story, the Israelites were able to maintain their belief that the God who was with Jacob was also with them.
As I said earlier, the core of the text is in the name. An angel asked Jacob his name and gave him the name Israel. Now Jacob again asks the angel to give you his name (v. 29). When he asks for your name, he means to reveal his identity. The angel told Jacob that he did not need to know his name and blessed him instead. It must mean that blessing is the meaning of the angel's name. Jacob wrestled with the angel and named the blessed place Peniel. It means 'the face of God'. After a long time, Moses asked for God's name on Mount Horeb, where he was called to come out of Egypt, but was told that there was no name. . But Jacob is said to have seen the face of God here. Does it mean that Jacob is greater than Moses? Seeing the face of God is a symbol. Man cannot see the face of God directly. You can say this. Not seeing God, but experiencing God.
Stories like Yabboknaru are sometimes read a bit perplexing. Are you saying that we should also wrestle with the angels like Jacob and receive new names and receive blessings? Forget the idea that the Old Testament experience of God must be methodically identical. The same is true of the New Testament. Not everyone can be like Paul. Not all can experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in the same way as the early Christians did. It's kind of a religious regression to go back to that kind of experience. It's like no matter how much you miss your mother, you can't go back to the behavior of a three-year-old. What matters is the content, not the form, of God's experience. It is an absolute life experience. It is, to borrow Rudolf Otto's phrase, a numinose experience, which means holy fear. It is the experience of the ultimate being that envelops the whole of one's existence in flames. We are the ones who did it through Jesus Christ. In his fate we experienced the fact that absolute life awaits us.
There will be people who have no such experience or have faint knowledge. The same goes for going to church for a long time. My advice to such people is: It is important to remain ‘alone’ for now. Jacob left his wife, children, and property in Jabbok, and was left alone. The experience of God is impossible unless you are left alone. It is similar to the situation where we have to die alone when we die. It's like when we breathe we have to breathe alone. The more important it is, the more you should do it alone. We must stand alone before God, who is the absolute master of life. Don't think of this as just saying that you have to live in solitude unconditionally. Even Jesus prayed alone, but he lived with people. The ultimate meaning of being alone is spiritual fear. It is an attitude of life that focuses on only one fact, the life events of God. In light of the story of Mary and Martha, it is the attitude of Mary who listened to Jesus in front of Jesus rather than Martha who was cooking. In today's text, Jacob spent the night alone at Jabbok Naru and experienced the experience of being Israel and Peniel.
Jacob's thigh
Today's text adds an unimportant remark in the last verse. It is said that the sun rose when Jacob passed by Peniel and that he was lame because of his thigh (verse 31). That scene is pictured in his head. I must have been tired because I stayed up all night. It must have looked pitiful to some people because he was limping. But in reality, Jacob's soul became more prosperous than ever before. His change of name means that his spiritual existence has changed. You have experienced the ultimate depth of life to the point of facing the face of God. He experienced a spiritual depth that his wife, children, and wealth could not provide. Lameness is no longer a problem for him.
Today we are lame people on a spiritual level. Of course it should be. I am a stigma, a scar that says my legs have entered a special relationship with God. Paul confessed this in Galatians 6:17. “From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear the marks of Jesus (stigma) on my body.” With these words, Paul put an end to the debate between circumcision and uncircumcision. Circumcision is a ritual that injures the body. It doesn't matter whether it exists or not, it's about being rebuilt. Paul did not stay on the stigma of circumcision, but set his heart on the stigma of Jesus. The stigma may be all kinds of hardships that you have suffered while sharing the Gospel, it may be a chronic disease, it may be a single life, or it may be a situation of being ripped off.
Christians today are afraid of this stigma. It means that you are afraid of an uncomfortable life. Because I believe in Jesus, I believe that I should live better than the people of the world. hanging there. I'm getting impatient to show you that kind of evidence. That's a bad idea. People live in abundance and sometimes poorly. Both healthy and ill. A person's happiness is not determined by it. The lives of the nomads of Mongolia and Tibet, the mountain people of Everest and the Eskimos of the Arctic are very uncomfortable by our standards. They don't give up their lives. It is clear that quantity cannot be the measure of happiness.
Again, look at the last appearance of Jacob in the text. After staying up all night, he passes by Peniel, limping. I can only imagine how happy he must have been at that moment. Lameness doesn't look pathetic at all. Rather, I envy him for that. It is because they have entered the happiness that only those who have experienced God can participate. Dear saints, do not be afraid of the inconvenience of life with a lameness. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, one day we'll end up with total lameness. and die. True life comes only from God. Focus more on God. Focus more on God's saving reign through Jesus Christ. That is the way of life.