Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - Tuesday in the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Genesis 32:23-33 and Matthew 9:32-38]"You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel,because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.".....Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face, " he said, "yet my life has been spared.
Jacob is a dramatic character. He has colorful dreams, tricks his brother, Esau, out of his inheritance, and now he manages to wrestle with God's messenger and draws a stalemate! His relationship with God had to be pretty strong and resilient to last through all the various trials and challenges. One of those challenges is famous, the wrestling match in today's scripture. I have always been intrigued by the "face to face" quality of the relationships between God and certain Old Testament figures like Abraham, Jacob, Moses and the great prophets! Even though these characters believe that to see God face to face means annihilation, they discover that they wouldn't be talking to God if God intended to kill them! So, they bargain, wrestle, complain, praise, love, etc. etc. with God. I think I have gone through just about all those phases in my own relationship with God! The Old Testament has much to teach us. If we wish to be faithful believers, we must be willing to face God, whether in the Old Testament model or the model presented by Jesus! Learning how to wrestle with God can be the way we learn to pray! AMEN