Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

When we think about the process for developing our relationship with God, we might think of prayer that is soothing and comfortable. In today’s readings, we are presented with a description of Jacob’s relationship with God that is far from peaceful and could be described as combative. This description of Jacob wrestling with an angel sent by God is one that has resonated with artists from Rembrandt to U2. Why has this rather odd story captured the imagination of so many? Perhaps it is because the events described in today’s readings challenge us to question our interaction with God through passive, comfortable prayer and force us to recognize that, at times, when our relationship with God is a struggle, we may be led to our most profound insights into ourselves and God. Understanding the insights that Jacob gains through his struggle requires some context. As we know, Jacob is the second son of Abraham. By Jewish custom, Jacob’s older brother Esau would have been entitled to the majority of his father’s estate as well as his father’s blessing. Instead, Jacob impersonates Esau and tricks his father into delivering the blessing to him. This act creates a great deal of resentment and hostility between Jacob and Esau. As a result, Jacob, following the direction of an angel, flees his home. Years later, Jacob is directed to return and face Esau, and it is during Jacob’s return trip to his homeland that today’s reading begins. Jacob has sent his family and his belongings, including gifts of atonement for Esau, across the river that forms the boundary of his original home. Although he has created this buffer of family and assets between himself and Esau, he cannot establish a buffer between himself and God.

That night, all alone, Jacob is confronted by an angel and one of the key formative events of Jacob’s life begins. We are told that Jacob and the angel wrestle through the entire night and that near daybreak the angel sees that he cannot prevail over Jacob and strikes Jacob’s hip at the socket. Perhaps what is most interesting is not in the description of the event but is evident from how the event concludes. Jacob could not have fought this angel to a stand still without God’s intervention. One can imagine how Jacob grew during the fight over the course of the long night. As his position in the struggle moved from advantage to disadvantage over the hours he must have found something in himself and in his relationship with God that gave him the strength to continue the struggle – to persevere.

At the end of the struggle, we find Jacob as a new man. Instead of giving up or blaming God for this night of pain and struggle, his faith has grown to such an extent that he refuses to release the angel until he receives a blessing. In recognition of the change in Jacob, the angel responds by giving him the new name Israel. As we know, Jacob is then warmly reunited with Esau, but walks with a limp as a result of his struggles.

While our struggles to discern and follow God’s will may not be as dramatic as Jacobs combat, they are no less real. It is likely that our most significant growth will come from identifying those areas where we have turned away from God and then engaging in the struggle necessary to reorient ourselves toward God. Like Jacob, no matter how many buffers we place between ourselves and our perceived problems, the struggle will eventually find us. If we place our trust and faith in God, we can emerge on the other side of the struggle as a new person.

- John Sperino