Our Scripture in church yesterday was another one of those enigmatic, yet profoundly evocative texts: Jacob wrestling with the LORD (Genesis 32:22-30). Pastor Douthwaite’s sermon, again, unfolded and applied it in some striking ways. Read the whole sermon here: St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Pentecost 21 Sermon. I will just quote a few sentences:
We find out that God was there with Jacob. In fact, it was God who was wrestling with Jacob! God appearing in hostile form, in order to help Jacob. . . .
God lets Himself be overcome, to bless Jacob.. . .
The God who appeared hostile in the night was Jacob’s Saviour in the morning.. . .
The Son of God who, just as in His wrestling match with Jacob, allows Himself to be overcome by man on the cross, in order to bless.. . .
So that you, like Jacob and like this widow, though you must wrestle and struggle night and day, not let God go. . . .That in the struggle, you cling to Him alone. That in the struggle, though God seem like an enemy, you cling to Him as your Father.. . .
How do you cling to a God you cannot see? Where do you cling to Him? By, as St. Paul told Timothy, clinging to His Word.. . .
Know this: that the God who came to wrestle with Jacob, the God who came and struggled for you on the cross, the God who overcame sin, death, and the devil, the God who comes now and cares for you, will not let you go.
What were you made to see in this text?
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