“NAMES AND FACES”

July 31,2005

Scripture Readings:   Genesis 32: 22-31,

 Romans 9: 1-5, Matthew 14: 13-21

  Dr. Peggy Dunn

Blue Point Congregational Church

 

Some of you know I am somewhat of a photographer. I love to watch light, and to sometimes record an image on film, or more often now, digitally.

The old 35 mm cameras I used to use had interchangeable lenses. The digital cameras I now use have built in telephoto lenses which allow for both close up and wider views. We’re going to spend a bit of time with a close up lens on the readings you just heard, and then we are going to switch to a wide angle lens – to step back and see where we are in a wider context.

Our readings from the Old Testament and Matthew’s gospel are important Biblical teaching stories. Part of the strength of the Bible is that it is a book just FULL of stories which get under your skin, stories which leave you with mystery to chew on until some of the deeper meanings emerge as you digest the words.

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Our first story was about Jacob and his mysterious wrestling match with a mysterious ‘man’ who by the morning was recognized by Jacob as ‘god’. This is an important story: it is here that Jacob gets a new name: ISRAEL. In the book of Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew scriptures, Jacob has 12 sons. Israel, the nation, was composed of 12 tribes who were banded together – something like our original 13 colonies banding together to be known as the UNITED STATES. So this Jacob story, like the rest of the books of Genesis and Exodus, is something of a national creation myth. This particular story turns on Jacob’s exchanges with this visitor – this creature of the night who must be gone by daylight. Jacob, a scrappy and strong-willed person all his life, won’t let this creature go until he gets a blessing. The creature says, ‘what is your name?’ The response: ‘Jacob’. The creature continues: ‘You will no longer be called Jacob, but will have a new name: Israel, which means the one who strives with God and prevails.’ Jacob had put up a good fight, and was crippled in the process by a wound to his thigh.  And Jacob says, ‘what is your name?’ The creature says: ‘Why do you ask?’ In the Hebrew scriptures, God’s name, and God’s face, are in most cases unknowable. But the blessing requested by Jacob is given by this one who has wrestled with him. Jacob understands that he has seen the LORD, the Holy One, face to face, and has survived.

So who is this who comes to Jacob in the night, and why this night? Let’s back up a bit: use a wider lens. Jacob was the second son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Carol talked a couple of weeks ago about Jacob and Esau his older brother, who by Hebrew tradition should have received the blessing of his father. But Jacob was a trickster, and he tricked Isaac, and he got the blessing instead of Esau. And Esau said he would kill Jacob for this, so Jacob took off. He married two sisters and fathered 12 children, and by craftiness and hard work amassed a fortune in livestock. As he aged he wanted to return to the land of his birth – but had to pass through the lands of Esau to get there. Jacob was concerned about what Esau would do – he prepared huge gifts for Esau, which were sent on ahead of him. He had worked out strategies for a couple of different scenarios. But he was nervous. He put his wives and children and his possessions in a safe place for the night, and then he laid down to sleep.

So this night of wrestling wasn’t just any night – this was a significant night in a very long and involved story. Jacob had a lot going on – the next day he would meet the brother he tricked years before, the brother who said he would kill him when he saw him. He had set all this stuff in motion, but had no idea what his immediate future held. There was a lot at risk. Not the stuff of a good night’s sleep.

Can you relate? When do your sleepless nights come? When do you wrestle with Reality?

In preparing for this sermon, I downloaded a fascinating article by Rabbi Arthur Waskow on the topic of reconciliation, because this story becomes one of reconciliation between Jacob and his brother.  Unlike some of our Christian tradition which emphasizes the ‘omnipotence of God’ and the ‘smallness of humans’, striving with God, arguing with God, is supported by the early Hebrew stories. Abraham and Moses both talk things over with God, complain to God, and sometimes make suggestions, and sometimes get angry.

Waskow says God wants this, and it is a function of our maturing relationship with God to sometimes engage in the wrestling – and that the reconciliation with human brothers (and/or sisters) can sometimes ONLY come when we stop wrestling with them and instead engage with God, the I AM – God, the parent, God the reality of our lives.

Take that thought and apply it to the Israelis and the Palestinians now – what could happen there if their disappointments and angers were brought to God rather than acted out on each other?

And what in your life are the issues you struggle with? Do you bring them to God or do they get acted out in difficulties and conflicts with other folks?

What can we learn here?

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Our second story is about Jesus and the disciples and the crowd of folks at supper time. This story is actually found in all four gospels, which means each of the gospel writers wanted this story told – there aren’t many that are in all four books. A crowd had followed Jesus, the wandering one, eager to hear his teachings, and some eager to be healed. It got on towards suppertime, and the disciples said to Jesus: ‘let’s take a break, and send these folks to get some supper in the nearby village.’

Jesus says, ‘No need – you feed them.’

‘But how are we supposed to feed them? Among us we have 5 loaves and 2 fishes and a whole lot of folks.’

Jesus says, ‘bring me what you’ve got.’ He sat the folks down, blessed the food, and told his disciples to give it out.

And there was more than enough – there were 12 baskets left over!

How did that happen?

There’s that number 12 again. Remember the 12 sons of Jacob, symbolic of the 12 tribes of Israel? And, how many disciples did Jesus call? Twelve. Twelve is a number that signifies completion, wholeness. So when there are 12 of something in the Bible, there is a connection to other 12s –

I believe in miracles, and I believe that the Bible is a book which reveals both something of the nature of God and the evolving nature of human relationship with God. And I concur with John Robinson’s words in this morning’s meditation – words which are very important to congregationalism and thus to the UCC that God has more truth and light to share – God isn’t done with God’s revelations yet! I believe the miracle of the feeding stories is about sharing – about offering what we have to God, asking God to bless it, and trusting that it will be sufficient for the needs of the situation. I believe that these stories are about bringing out of our pockets the small amount we may have with us in any situation – and if we all offer it, and ask God to bless it, there is ALWAYS more than enough.  This is not just about money. We carry other things in our figurative pockets, too.

I think I learned this from a pot luck meal we hosted when I was in my 20s as I cleaned up after folks went home, and realized the amount of food that was left over. No one had provided that much food, but all had eaten really well, and there was food left over. Deeply Miraculous.  And completely ordinary.

The miracle, the blessing, is in the opening up of our hearts, and then our hands, and trusting the process.  We have these two stories this morning – one about 3000 years old, the other about 2000- old, old stories. Jacob wrestled with his past and his present desires and responsibilities on his journey home. Jacob was no goody two shoes. But he had the audacity to ask for a blessing – and he got it. And the Hebrew tradition acknowledges his name as Israel. 

Let’s use yet a wider lens: The Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, are the history and stories of Israel, the people. The New Testament, which contains the Gospels and the letters of the forming faith of Christianity, cannot be understood without realizing that the Hebrew tradition is the ground out of which Christianity grew. This is Paul’s point in the passage we read from Romans. But the New Testament is not so much about ‘the people’ as it is about individual persons. Jesus is sometimes referred to as the ‘embodied Israel’. Where Judaism understands the Hebrews as God’s chosen PEOPLE, Christianity understands Jesus as God’s chosen SON. And Jesus’ teachings are much more about our individual relationship with God the parent, God the I AM of reality, and how that affects our relationships with each other.  And Paul, who wrote many of the letters of the latter part of the New Testament, Paul the Jew who was radically changed by being encountered by the CHRIST (Jesus after his death and resurrection) understands Jesus’ followers as Jesus’ BODY. Paul goes back to a collective sense.

So – I give you two stories and two lenses this morning. The close up lens of personal struggle in the Jacob story, and the close up lens in the Jesus story of offering to share what is in your pocket, both literally and figuratively, and the wide lens of realization that our personal struggles and gifts are part of a much larger whole. May God bless our struggles and our offered gifts, both individually and collectively. Amen.