August 27, 2023. WILDERNESS LIVING 1. "Faith Against the Odds"

 

Readings: Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20, Exodus 1:8 – 2:10
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 27, 2023

I’m beginning a series this week titled “Wilderness Living.” Mostly our sermons will be looking at events that befell the Israelite's as they traveled through the desert. But before they ever were given an opportunity to search for their promised land, God would raise up a leader, Moses, to declare “Let my people go!” Today’s sermon is the prequel. What happened before Moses came on the scene? What was the situation in Egypt? And what role did faith play in the story?

When you think of Egypt, you think of pyramids. When Joseph had been in charge in Egypt, times were good for the Israelite's. But Joseph died and people started to treat the Israelite's as the outsiders. As successive Pharaoh’s came along, the treatment they received grew worse. Ambitious building projects were started, and cheap labor was needed. The Israelite's were forced into slavery.

A pyramid-like power structure had come into play. At the top was the Pharaoh, and just below that, the governors of Pharaoh’s court. Then various layers of government reached down to the Egyptian people. Below them were the foreigners and slaves, referred to in some ancient texts as the ‘hapiru’ - ‘lower class folks’ who were both despised and feared. They had a purpose in that they were necessary to carry out the work that the Pharaoh’s needed doing.

There was even a power structure among the ‘hapiru’ (or Hebrews as the Israelite slaves became known.) Those who would collaborate with the government were given the job of overseers. Those who were the strongest were honored above the weakest. Of least importance were the women and children. Their place was very much at the bottom of the pyramid of power.

Impressive as the Pharaohs pyramid of power may have been, there was a power in Egypt that could flatten the tallest pyramids. That power rested not in the hands of the Pharaoh, nor the government, or in the Egyptian population, or in some Israelite warrior, but, at that moment, in the lives of 3 women and a young girl. The power of faith.

That’s one of the things that frightened Pharaoh about those Hebrew people. They appeared to be blessed, despite their lives of servitude. Their numbers were growing, and their influence was spreading. Some of them seemed to have their finger on something that eluded everybody else. They didn’t seem to fear him in the same way as everybody else did.

They had faith in a higher power than Pharaoh. No doubt at times they worried what would become of them, but they clung to the promises made to their ancestors that one day their people would prosper. Right then, it must have seemed a dim and distant hope. Yet it was a hope that lived in the life of three women and a girl child at the bottom of the pyramid of power. They had a faith that went against the odds.

The odds were that the Israelite people could look forward only to a long and unhappy life of drudgery. The odds were that Pharaoh’s jealousy and fear of them would bring nothing but trouble. Their chance of survival in such a hostile environment was extremely slim.

Everyday brought more bad news. They were forbidden to marry. They heard an order that at birth their sons were to be murdered. When this order failed to be carried out, they had the threat that all their boy children who were born would be thrown into the river and drowned. Despite all of that, the faithful actions of three women and a girl-child were about to set in course a chain of events that would bring the Egyptian nation to its knees and have Pharaoh begging for the Israelite's to depart from the land.

The first two women to give voice to this life transforming faith are two mid-wives, “One of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,” Not exactly household names these days, but without their faithful refusal to carry out Pharaohs commands, then Moses would not have survived to be a child, yet alone a leader of the people of God.

Pharaoh calls the women to him and tells them that, at the time of birth, if it is a Hebrew boy child, they are to kill it, if it is a girl then that was fine. But Scripture tells us, Exodus 1:17 “The midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.”

Pharaoh is not pleased by this and demands an explanation. The midwives are less than truthful and inform the Pharaoh that these Israelite women are so blessed and fertile that they kept having babies before the midwives could even get to them. Of course, Pharaoh is not pleased and then gives the order for all the new baby boys to be drowned in the river.

The first two ladies expressing “faith against the odds” are Shiprah and Puah. The third is the mother of Moses, Jochebed, who was married to Aram. They were both from the priestly tribe of the Levite's and after getting married they have a daughter followed sometime later by a son who appears on the scene at the time the Pharaoh is trying to murder all the baby boys.

Now there are hints in the story that this newborn is no ordinary child. There is almost a mirroring of the early chapters of Genesis, that may not have been as lost on the original hearers of the story as it has become for us. First of all, there is Exodus 2:2 “The woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw that he was a fine baby”

The word structure in the Hebrew for the phrase ‘saw that he was a fine baby’ is similar to that of the Creation narrative, where God looks upon all the earth that has been created and proclaims, “It is Good.” The idea of new beginnings is here hinted at, that through this child something new and creative was about to happen.

We are probably familiar with the story of the mother of Moses, Jochabed, placing the child in a specially prepared basket and floating him on the river so that he may escape the wrath of Pharaoh. Here the images of Noah and the Ark that became the people’s salvation are evoked. Again, the impression is given that this is no ordinary child.

Something more than just self-preservation is going on here. The mother of this child is acting with a faith that went against the odds. To simply hide the baby in a basket and let it float away would be a rather foolish action. The impression is given that she was following some barely discerned plan; acting in faith that these were actions God was directing her to take.

Then, the boldest of them all, the fourth in our quartet of faithful ladies, is the sister of Moses, Miriam, who sticks around to see what is going to happen to the baby. That the daughter of Pharaoh should come and find the child, then adopt it as her own, was not anything that either the baby’s sister or mother could have predicted, but that’s what happens.

Think of the boldness of that little girl in approaching the daughter of a Pharaoh! The daughter was a princess whilst she was the child of a slave. And how quick witted she is, arranging that the child’s nurse be her mother. Who could have seen that one coming? Truly these are examples of women and a little girl who had faith that went against the odds! Shiprah, Puah, Jochabed and Miriam. Four great ladies of faith!

We have the benefit of hindsight. Maye we have watched the cartoon “Prince of Egypt”or even read the original script in our Bibles. Not surprising they made a movie out of it. It’s a heroic story. Moses the adopted Prince, coming to terms with who he is, then leading the people towards freedom.

BUT… were it not for the faith of two-mid-wives, Shiphrah and Puah, of mother Jochabed who faithfully obeyed what she sensed God was calling her to do and the boldness of a young girl called Miriam in approaching a princess, then Moses would never have survived being born and his name would be lost among all the others who fell afoul of Pharaohs madness.

There is a lot of talk around these days about the future and even survival of the traditional churches. It is no secret that most of the major denominations have seen a numerical loss. It’s part of our story here in this church that congregations once were larger and membership figures were once higher.

The world has changed. This is a land where many people believe they can live comfortably without needing a religion to help them through. We live in a period of history where people are more and more defined by what they do rather than who they are.

We are a fast food, speed of light, instant gratification society across the generations. The processes of sustained thought and disciplined action; the whole idea of denying oneself in order to serve others has become increasingly devalued. We are just too complacent, too stimulated, and too busy for the things that Jesus suggests are Kingdom priorities.

That’s a lot to deal with. It’s a huge pyramid of ideology that we labor under. It’s a difficult thing to truly influence when there are those that tell us right and wrong no longer have any meaning and that the only thing that really matters is that we do as best as we can.

BUT... we can learn from this story of three women and a little girl. They had the one thing that could bring the pyramids down. Faith. A trusting, uncomplicated reliance on God and ability to respond to what God was calling them to do.

Remember some of the things that Jesus said about faith?

(Matthew 17:20) “He said to them, (Because of their little faith), truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

(Luke 17:6) “And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you.”

To those who felt his healing touch. (Luke 8:48) “He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

To those needing to know they were accepted by God:- (Mark 2:5) “And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

Mountain removing, tree-planting, wholesome making, sin forgiving, pyramid shattering faith. That’s all those ladies back in Pharaoh’s day had. Three women and a girl started the events that toppled Egypt’s pyramid of power and led eventually, through Moses, to the Hebrew people making an Exodus from Egypt.

What a difference faith made. Faith changed things. What sort of difference should faith make to our lives? What sort of changes can faith in God bring about in our situations?

We’ll never know, unless we like those ladies, seek to be people who are faithful to God. Such is the challenge they lay before us today. To embrace a faith that goes against the odds. A faith like that of  Shiphrah, Puah, Jochabed and Miriam.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ    
Through the power of God’s Spirit
May that be a challenge we take on board!
To the Glory of God.
AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

August 20, 2023 “The Depth of God”

Readings: Psalm 13, Genesis 45:1-15 , Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28, Romans 11:33-12:8
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY on August 20, 2023

Way back in 1975 a French scholar of oriental and Christian traditions, Yves Raguin, published a book called ‘The Depth of God.’ I revisited the book recently and came to the conclusion that his insights were ahead of his time and certainly have a relevance to religious life in 2023.

 In the introduction he complains that Western Christianity has made God ‘Too obvious’. That theologians and church leaders have thought that by providing people with increasingly simplified definitions of what God is like they would bring God closer.

But the result had been, not to bring God closer, but make God seem smaller. The book suggests that the awesome, mystery, otherness, and holiness of God, often spoken of in other religious traditions, is in danger of being lost.

It is about the depth of God that I wish to speak today and take for a text Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways! (NAB).

To me these words of Paul speak about three things;
•    The Majesty of God
•    The Mastery of God’s Knowledge
•    The Mystery of God’s Ways.

The Depth of God…Majesty, Mastery and Mystery! Let’s look at the first of those.

The Majesty of God “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”

Twenty First Century humanity is held captive by the belief that everything we need can be provided by our own efforts. We put our faith in the miracles of science and technology and human progress for our salvation. Many believe that one day we are going to work it all out and that when we do, we won’t need God to fill in the gaps.

Such a world view elevates the place of humankind to that of being a deity. We are Lords of our own destiny, Kings of our own domains, Masters of our own Universe.  The problem is that we cannot enthrone humanity without dethroning God.  The price of inflating ourselves is that we make faith in God seem shallow.

Back when Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, he didn’t have that problem. As he thought about the majesty of God, his soul seemed to burst. The words flow out from him, “Oh… the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!" Oh…The Depth.. the depth of God!

When I lived in Wales over in Great Britain, I used to regularly travel on a road that went from the place where I lived in Wales to my hometown of Moreton in England. It was called the A55 and it wasn’t the sort of road that you took your time on. It was the main four lane road that the big trucks took as they were headed to and from Ireland. It was the only road that led along the coast of North Wales. And it was usually extremely busy.

Summer travelers shared tales of lengthy traffic jams that had occurred when the annual road works created ten-mile-long hold ups. Accidents were regular. If you have ever driven in the British Isles, you’ll be aware that some folk, as in some places in the States, interpret speed limits as being minimums rather than maximums.

Once upon a time it was a wee winding road that wove its way through seaside towns, past castles, and churches. But as it had been straightened and widened and a bypass added here and there, it had become much like any other busy highway. You got on it, set your controls for the heart of the sun… and zoom… away you went.

But one time, I can’t recall quite why, I pulled off onto one of the roadside lay-bys, and was astonished to see the panoramic view that I had so often sped by. It was a clear day and spread out before me was the River Dee, the gentle rolling land of the Wirral peninsular where I grew up and a glimpse of Liverpool with its two grand cathedrals beyond.

As I looked at the view, I was suddenly awestruck at how much of my life had been shaped in that particular geographic area. That’s where I found faith. That’s where on numerous occasions God had broken through to my life with God’s love. That’s where I had felt a call to minister. That’s where I had served in the city of Liverpool.

As I stood in that lay-by with the traffic rushing by, for a while I was in another place. I was oblivious to the noise and busyness. All I could think of was how great were the riches of God, that God, the Great Creator King, should send a Son to die upon a cross for a person like me, that God, the Lord of all, should desire somebody like me to share in the work of the Kingdom.

I was completely overwhelmed, almost numb. If an angel had descended into view and said, “Hey, how’s it going” I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. As one of our hymns declares; ‘The things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of God’s glory and grace.’

Or as Paul says...“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”  When we take time out to consider how awesome God is, it can profoundly affect our lives.  How little room we allow ourselves for focusing on the majesty of God. Then there is this;

The Mastery of God’s Knowledge.  “How inscrutable are His judgments.”

Isn’t that a great word? ‘Inscrutable’. When Yvonne was a youngster her mum used to sometimes exclaim “Inscrutable Indeed!” when faced with a situation that was perplexing her, meaning “I do not have a clue what is going on but it seems good!”

The dictionary definition of inscrutable is “Difficult to fathom or understand, impenetrable, mysterious. This verse tells us ‘How impossible to fathom, how mysterious, how inscrutable are the judgments of God, How deep are His wisdom and knowledge.”

To me God’s inscrutableness is like this. Nobody knows us as well as God does. God knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows exactly what is best for our life. God knows everything we are going through. God knows our temptations, our failures, our disappointments, our trials, our victories, our joys, our laughter, our thankfulness.

Sometimes when people are going through a hard time, you’ll hear them say, “God knows what I’m going to do now!” What they are actually saying is that they haven’t got a clue what they are going to do now because something bad has happened. That’s desperately sad. That the phrase ‘God knows’ has become equated with the fear that nobody can help! Say the phrase ‘God knows’ without faith in your heart and it is a cry of futility.

But proclaim 'God knows!’ with faith in your heart and it becomes a song of hope! God alone can truly judge the pros and cons of any situation. What looks to us to be a place of desperation, can be, through the eyes of faith, a great opportunity to encounter the grace of God.

In His life Christ demonstrated that 'God knows'. He was the healer. His touch bought peace. He was the One who forgave, even those who struggled to forgive themselves. He was the One who said to people, ‘Look for you this is right and for you this is wrong”.

He could do that because He knew people’s hearts and would sometimes speak a rebuke for their shallowness, at other times a great word of encouragement. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all point us to the God who knows.

The Acts of the Apostles, point us to the God who knows how to build a Church. The letters of Paul and Peter and John and all the others point us to how faith works out in given situations. The book of Revelation goes further and points us to the God who knows how it all turns out in the end!  

The New Testament witness to an egocentric world which seeks to dethrone God is that we are fools to think that our understanding of God is anything compared to the depth of God’s knowledge of us. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments”… The Majesty of God, the Mastery of God’s inscrutable knowledge… and finally mystery…

The Mystery of God’s Ways “How unsearchable” proclaims Paul “are His ways!”

Sometimes theologians give Paul a hard time. Accuse him of being dogmatic or judgmental. But that’s not the Paul who comes across in this verse. In the book of Romans Paul writes on the great themes of the law of God and of the grace revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Then he reaches the eleventh chapter and it’s as though he must pause and take a breath, as though he is totally aware of the enormity of his task, as though he knows that his words are an imperfect vehicle to truly convey the depth of God’s love towards us.

I saw a picture in a National Geographic magazine of people walking around the rim of a large still active volcano. They looked small, like little ants on the edge, gazing down into this pool of molten rock and heat, shielding their eyes as they looked over. They had climbed so far, but now all they could do was gaze in wonder at an environment they could never penetrate.

So, Paul, having used all his impressive skills to penetrate the mystery of God and explain the glorious gospel of salvation, in chapter eleven pauses at the rim; “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways .“

The depth of God! If this be the God we are encountering during worship, if this be the God who claims the love of our lives, then how foolish we are to think that we can solve our problems without reference to God's presence.

 How foolish we are when we refuse to abandon ourselves to God's love. Such an awesome God can handle whatever we throw at Him. Such an awesome God is one we can trust to hold us. God has revealed God’s love through Jesus Christ. God sends love to be received in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 

 I invite us today to trust in the depth of God’s love to meet the deepest needs of our lives. Amen!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

August 13, 2023 "Burning Lamps"

Readings; Psalm 66:8-20, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21, Acts 20:7-12
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 13, 2023

Our Bible reading from the Acts of the Apostles spoke of Paul's last visit to Troas. Come with me and picture the scene on that day. It's late. We're in an upstairs room, gathered to here the words of a great man, a great preacher. We're all crammed together, like sardines, because he's going away tomorrow and we'll never have a chance to hear him again. As he speaks we are hanging on every word.

Sitting on the window sill is John Smiths son Jimmy.  The preachers been talking for a while. It's late. Jimmy is starting to nod off.  In fact he literally 'Falls asleep', falls out of the upstairs window onto the ground.  "Oh No!" shouts somebody "Jimmy just fell out the window!"

There is a great commotion as we all push and shove down a narrow flight of stairs out into the street of the town.  At this late hour lights start going on in the surrounding homes as people are awakened by our commotion. Mrs. Smith runs over to where Jimmy lies, picks up his head.. he's not breathing... there's no pulse. It can't be. He's dead?  A silence descends on us all as a couple of the guys try and offer help. We stand around like dummies in a shop window.

Then the preacher makes his way through the crowd.  He hadn't rushed down stairs like the rest of us.  He beckons the guys trying to revive Jimmy out of the way and throws himself down on the ground next to Jimmy's corpse and hugs him.  You don't know what to do.  It's embarrassing.  Visiting preachers don't usually embrace corpses. 'Don't worry', He smiles as he gets to his feet, 'He's still alive'.

The lad opens his eyes, sits up, looks around and gives the kind of look that says, "What am I doing down here, why are you all staring at me, and am I grounded for this?" We run back up stairs, some dumfounded, some talking... "He can't really have been dead". "He was y'know, I felt for a pulse..."

We share together in broken bread and then settle down to listen to what the speaker has to say.  This time nobody drops off to sleep, but everybody is encouraged and comforted and when we do finally leave it is with a great sense of peace, joy and wonderment.

Such is a similar scenario to what  took place when the apostle Paul visited Troas.  It's one of the few pictures in Scripture of what happened when Christians in the early church met for worship.  Apart from warning about the dangers of falling asleep during the sermon, it has a whole lot to teach us about what Christian worship could be like. One of the most illuminating verses in the passage comes at Acts 20, verse 8. "Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room."

I'm sure it was literally true, they would need lamps because it was dark.  But you can also interpret this verse in a spiritual sense.  In Troas many peoples hearts were burning with the desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ, catching fire under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  It is in that spiritual sense I'd like to think on those words today, "Many lamps were burning", for many hearts were hungry for God to speak.

The result of those burning lamps was worship that had a dynamic intensity.  Theologian, Karl Barth, a man of great depth and intellect, penned these challenging words. "Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life."  I'm not the only one who has been in services where the most momentous thing that has happened has been if the pastor has tripped on the steps or someone has dropped a hymnbook!

Christian worship is meant to be dynamic.  Whether or not it is depends on how brightly the light of Christ burns in our hearts.  Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room.   But what set those people alight? Their worship was focused on the great drama of crucifixion and resurrection. At the center of any Christian worship service must be a profound appreciation of the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection to life. It is that experience of death being overcome by life that lies at the heart of the gospel message.

It was a message that was vividly demonstrated by Paul's revival of Eutychus, the young man who fell out of the window.  It is a message reinforced time and time again in the New Testament.  Think, for example, of the Fathers words over the prodigal son who returned home.  "He was dead, but now he's alive, Lost but now he's found".

Every year, till he passed away, I received a Christmas Card from Rev Eric Evans, a retired Welsh Presbyterian minister and ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, who, after he had retired, sometimes attended the church I was nurtured in, that of Moreton Presbyterian in Merseyside, England.  

As a young person in that church, we always loved it when Eric preached.  He was a fiery preacher.  He'd shout when he was excited. He'd bang on the bible and wake up the little old ladies who had fallen asleep on the back rows.  He had a few phrases that always let you know when a good story was coming, usually something along the lines of, "I remember a time when I was driving my car to Cardiff".

When I received a call to the ministry Eric was delighted.  He  used to write me encouraging letters at college.  In one of them, after I'd preached at Hoylake, (the church where he ministered for a number of years)  he wrote;

"Adrian, if I had one word of advice for you it would be this. Preach often on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  There are many things you can talk about, all sorts of interesting subjects you can preach about, but only the message of the crucifixion and the resurrection can bring a person from death to life and out of darkness into the light.  Your calling is not to entertain people with fine words but to set them on fire with the Holy Spirit."

One thing that can set our worship alive is to have that individual appreciation of what Jesus Christ has done for us.  He died for us and was raised for us and because of God's grace we may experience salvation.
 
I find it fascinating to attend events where people get really excited about their salvation in Christ.  Because, after all, remember I am British. And we're bred not to be excited about anything except for football matches and cricket games. The 'stiff upper lip' and keeping your feelings to yourself, they're one of the few things the British could beat the world at if only they'd make it an Olympic Sport.

But; unless you have a bit of the Lord's fire in your life, it is nigh on impossible to really worship Him. What are we going to sing about if all those hymns about salvation are outside our experience? How can we be excited about prayer if we've decided we are not the praying type?  How can we draw near to God if we have intellectually distanced our self from the personal, Parent God of Scripture who reveals God's love to us in Jesus Christ?

There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room. Many hearts were excited about their faith and coming to worship in expectancy. What is burning in our heart this day? What are the burning concerns that we have brought to this time of worship? What burns in us?

Could be fear. "What is the world coming to. How can I cope with this?" Could be complacency. "I'm all right. I don't need a Savior. "Could be unbelief. "Don't care what any preacher says.  I'm going to do my own thing." Could be desire. "I want this, I want that and unless I get it I will never be satisfied"

What burns within us? We have an idea what we should be thinking about in church. We know, maybe, why we should come to church. But what really burns in us? What do we really want? The answer we give will determine how dynamic and momentous our worship is!

Eutychus, in our bible reading, wasn't burning with much desire, except to go to sleep.  He couldn't stay awake.  He fell out of the window.  He was dead when they got downstairs. I know people fall asleep sometimes in church.  I can see you all from the pulpit. So, listen, if your feeling sleepy, get out of the pew and sit in the window ledge.  Then think about what happened to Eutychus and I guarantee you won't find it so easy to snooze.

Ephesians 5:15 has these words, which maybe Paul spoke to Eutychus. "Awake sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you."  Eutychus woke up. Eutychus rose from death. Eutychus knew that Christ's light shone on him, and that night many lamps were burning in the upstairs room.

Jesus said, "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people so that they will see the good things you do and Praise your Father in heaven." There is a way to be light in a dark world.  God says so.  The light is rekindled through worship.  As the Westminster Catechism puts it, "The chief end of people is to glorify God and enjoy God for ever.

There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room, because there had been many lamps burning throughout the past week.  At times maybe they flickered.  Some may even have gone out altogether.  Some were still waiting to be lit. But when the people of God came together with their minds set on worship, hearts were set on fire to serve the Lord.

Praise God we have been granted another opportunity to rekindle our faith.  Let us pray that God's Spirit may renew our lives and that His Presence may be our guide throughout the days that lie ahead. May we leave this place with a desire to serve others in Jesus name. May the light of Christ burn in us today!

Recall what happened that day in Troas.
Death was turned to life.
Darkness to light.
Why?
Because…

"There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room."

AMEN

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

August 6, 2023 PATRIARCHAL PONDERINGS 7. "Jacob's Wrestling Match"

COMMUNION SERVICE
Readings: Psalm 17:1-7, 15, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21, Genesis 32:22-31
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 6, 2023

We reach the final installment of our Patriarchal Ponderings. We conclude with a story about confrontation. An actual physical, one on one, wrestling match.

I recall growing up  on Saturday afternoons there were wrestling matches on TV. Some folks loved to watch. Others found it rather amusing. Little did we know back then that wrestling would become a huge media circus and make international stars out of folk with names like “Hulk Hogan” and “The Rock.” However famous such characters may be, the most influential wrestler of all time was a man called Jacob, the same guy we’ve been thinking about the last few weeks.

Jacob was born fighting, holding onto his twin Esau’s ankle as he came out of the womb. He fought and won the birthright that should have been his brothers by right. He fought to win the hearts of the ladies he loved. He was ready to fight Esau again should his twin brother seek to get his birthright back.

That’s how we find him at the beginning of our bible account. Getting ready to meet Esau. Jacob has a large family and many possessions.  He splits them into groups so that if they were attacked, not all would be lost. Always the wrestler, he has alternative strategies up his sleeve. “I will win Esau over with gifts, and when I meet him, perhaps he will forgive me!”

As we’ve noted before, Jacob isn’t a particularly godly person. Despite his visions of ladders descending from heaven and his life being the recipient of numerous promises and blessings from God, he is constantly maneuvering and manipulating, often without any thought of how his actions may have been hurting others. It’s almost as though God needs to really get a grip on him and teach him that there was more to life than serving his own desires!

That seems to be exactly what happens. As he seeks to cross the river, Jacob is set upon. His attacker is sometimes described as a man, sometimes as an angel. Some even suggest that the figure he wrestled was the pre-incarnate Christ. The assailant’s exact identity is unknown. Yet when the bout is over, Jacob recognizes that it had been no normal fight, but that he had been struggling with God. Verse 30: "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved."

That’s why Jacob is the most famous wrestler of all. He wrestled God and survived to tell the tale! Out of the struggle he gained a new name, Verse 28 tells us "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." He was also left with a limp in his walk having suffered a dislocated hip in the fight. Orthodox Jews today still avoid eating the muscle of the thigh, in honor of Jacob’s wrestling match!

Jacob never intended to be a wrestler. Neither do most of us. Even those who enjoy watching bouts on the television would feel very nervous if it were they who were actually in the ring with some big bad bone-crusher! Yet life has a habit of throwing us into the ring, time and time again. A sermon I saw on this passage had for its title; “Life’s a wrestling match.”

Life surely can be that way. A wrestling match. A struggle. A fight. Things come along and get a hold of us. Health problems. Money problems. Family problems. Personal struggles and private battles. Corporate problems and things we face together. It’s not all sweetness and light. There’s so much that could get us down and keep us there if we let it.

Some of these struggles are things we have bought upon ourselves. It has been our own selfishness, or unprepared-ness or sometimes just plain stupidity that has got us into a mess. We’d like to have a magic wand to wish it all away, but this isn’t Hogwarts, it’s the real world. Other struggles just seem to come at us from out of nowhere. “Didn’t see that one coming!”

One thing I like about this story is the vagueness of the attacker’s identity. Could be a man, could be an angel. Could be some manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ or personification of the Holy Spirit. Could be something as earthly as the river in which Jacob stood, or as heavenly as the river of life that is pictured flowing through heaven’s garden.

We are not given an exact identification. But we are told that in some mysterious way, God is mixed up with it, involved in it, and a part of it! There are struggles in our lives that we can name and others that we cannot seem to get a handle on. Dare we believe that amid our struggles, God is involved?

Dare we, as did Jacob, get such a grip on our struggles that we have the audacity to pray, “Out of this, there will yet be some blessing, some insight, some treasure that I have yet to glimpse and make my own!” We learn far more from our struggles than from those times when things are just too easy!

These struggles may indeed leave us limping as we go, yet even that can be a reminder to us that we have wrestled and made it through to the other side. Whilst Jesus Christ promises us that in His name we have the victory, we are never promised that we should travel through the battles without receiving any scars.

I wonder, if through faith, we can see that during these struggles, we are not alone, but in the same mysterious way as God was mixed up in Jacob’s struggle, God is also there amid our conflicts. Sometimes it can be about conflicts in relationships. Sometimes it can be about getting ourselves to live as God wants us to. Sometimes it can be a conflict going on inside of ourselves. In these different situations the mystery is that we can actually be wrestling with God.

Reflecting on this passage an anonymous author writes:

“As I grow older, I’m aware that each major struggle I undergo takes on familiar characteristics. It’s a struggle in the darkness.  It’s a struggle with the unknown. Jacob wrestles an angel who seems just as afraid as he is. Jacob wrestles his own fears. Jacob tries to destroy the angel, whose intent it is to bless him.

The angel gently allows Jacob to defeat himself. Jacob, remembering the consequences of stealing his brother’s blessing, stifles the angel’s blessing. Jacob and the angel eventually collapse in exhaustion.

In the light of the morning Jacob discovers, that through wrestling with God, he has been wrestling also with himself. Inevitably, such a struggle leaves me wounded and I will limp forever afterward.

But it’s not until later that I realize that I wasn’t wrestling with some other creature, but with that which we may call the spiritual, or the holy, or even the divine.  And it is then that I realize that I too, have been blessed. The strange thing is that I never really remember who won!”

There’s that strange thing about this wrestling match between Jacob and God. Who won? It would be ludicrous to suggest that God could lose! The intent of the angel is to bless Jacob, to establish him in a new relationship with God. This is a defining moment, marked by Jacob’s name being changed to  “Israel,” the name eventually adopted by the nation. God’s purposes were achieved. God won!

But Jacob didn’t lose. Jacob also won. He gained the blessing. Jacob is listed among the names of great people of faith in Hebrews Chapter 11. Despite his many failings, weaknesses and subsequent sorrows, there remained an underpinning of faith that enabled him to rise above his often-misguided actions.

Such faith does not come without struggle. It would not come to Jacob, which implies that neither will we reach a maturity of faith, without conflict and struggling and wrestling, with both the things of God and the circumstances that life brings our way.

To be a disciple means that there are occasions when we must take on the role of being a wrestler. There are things in our lives we need to work through with God. There are things God seeks for us to let go of, and we don’t want to. There are things that will come our way that will catch us totally by surprise. They may be pleasant, or they may be harsh.

So, take courage. Be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Find food for the fight and strength for the journey around a table laid with bread and wine. Seek for God’s blessing amid the struggles and refuse to give up till the blessing is yours.

As we have followed this series of ‘Patriarchal Ponderings’ we have discovered that, though these mothers and fathers in the faith are far removed from us, by great gaps in time and culture, they are characters of flesh and blood who seem to struggle with many of the things we still wrestle with in our own lives.

Family, faith, commitment, understanding the actions of those they travel through life with, being a community, discovering the boundaries, forgiveness of self and acceptance of others. The stuff of everyday life.

It is worth the effort to read and grapple with these stories from long ago. They will challenge us. There are things in them that are hard to accept. They are accounts with many layers, written from the perspective of those who were anxious to paint a picture that offered a particular perspective on life’s meaning and purpose.

We approach them from the position of being a Christian community that believes these stories were laying a foundation from out of which our own faith traditions would be born. There is so much in the New Testament that simply does not make sense without an understanding of these Old Testament narratives.

But… what I love about these stories… is that the struggles of the Patriarch’s, though very different in nature to our own dilemmas, still have the power to resonate with our lives. Hagar and Ishmael… people on the boundaries. Yet still God calls them family. Abraham, who struggles to understand his call and often takes matters into his own hands rather than trust God. That “Mount Moriah” moment when he learned that sometimes, to find yourself, you have to lose yourself and sever your attachment to those things that may be detracting from your love of God.

Abraham’s unnamed servant who displays to us an attitude of prayer that allowed God’s plans to be worked out through his service. Isaac, who finds love, but then has to deal with the family dynamics of feuding twins, one of whom, ultimately acts towards him with great disrespect and steals his brother Esau’s’ birthright. And Jacob… who as we have seen, was no saint. Faith for Jacob truly is a wrestling match, wrestling with himself, wrestling with the consequence of his actions, wrestling with God.

May these stories from the past encourage us.
May the promises of Scripture inspire us.
May we continue to wrestle with questions of faith and discipleship.
Let us seek to help each other as we travel along,
(or maybe even limp along),
a road that leads towards better days.

And to God’s name be all glory.

AMEN

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D..