Track 1: Wrestling with God
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7,16
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
As many of you may remember, Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, embarked on a journey to find a wife among his relatives. Now he is returning home. His prospects do not look good, however. He sent a messenger ahead of him to make peace with his brother Esau. The messenger came back with this report:
The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” (Genesis 32:6)
Jacob was afraid of what his brother might do. He prayed:
“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ” (Genesis 32:9-12)
Jacob’s life was marked by challenges and conflict. From birth, he wrestled with his twin brother, Esau, vying for dominance. Later, he competed with uncle laban for the greatest livestock and processions. What was the meaning of winning, he now wondered, when his life was in jeopardy.
Jacob was not alone in the wilderness. As he wrestled in his mind over what he must do, a mysterious figure appeared out of nowhere. Not realizing it at first, he was engaging in a celestial wrestling match with an angel. He wrestled all night with this person:
When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:25-28)
Jacob was wrestling, most of his life, to win, to get ahead, to impress others,. But everything in this world is temporal. Our lives are passing away. Solomon wrote:
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor, and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. (Ecclesiastes 2:18-21)
Jesus said:
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)
Jacob was trying to make “a name” for himself. He really wrestling God. God had a name for him. He had a blessing for him. God has a name for us. Are we striving against God? He wants to bless us, but we must slow down. We must seek his presence. It is better to call on him before we get ourselves in serious trouble.
We do not need to impress God. We do not need to compete for his love and attention. He is there for us. Jesus has impressed God the Father on our behalf. And the Father has proven his great love for us through the cross and resurrection. God’s blessing is not temporal. He grants us eternal life:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Life does present us with certain trials and challenges, which test our faith and endurance. Jacob learned faith and also perseverance. He even wrestle with a divine being and endured. Yet he did not earn a blessing from God. God was waiting to bless him. He just needed to get Jacob’s attention. Does he have ours today? He tells us: forsake the wrestling and bring your trials and turmoil to me.
Track 2: Small Beginnings
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
Today’s Gospel is about the miraculous. Jesus and his disciples were in a remote place, surrounded by a large crowd of people who had come to listen to his teachings and witness his miraculous works. As the day wore on, the crowd grew hungry, and the disciples realized that there was not enough food to feed them all:
When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:15-16)
Jesus turned to his disciples and said:
“They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
Jesus could have miraculous feed the multitude without the loaves and fish. But he revealed incredible power and authority over the natural laws of this world. By multiplying the bread and fish, Jesus demonstrated his ability to provide for our needs abundantly, even in the face of scarcity. The psalmist wrote:
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:15-19)
There is a lesson for all of us here, several of them. God is our provision. We can call upon him and rely on him, Jesus is the Son of God. He has the power to do anything. Yet, he chooses to work his miracles through us. He asks us to provide what we find in our hands and offer that to him so that he may bless it.
We are often faced with tasks that seem impossible in this life. Our ministries often seem that way. If so, that is a sure sign that God has called us to do it. Zerubbabel was encouraged by God to not lose heart when rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem:
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. (Zechariah 4:10 )
We need to learn to trust in God for his provision. When the disciples realized the scarcity of food, they were anxious and unsure of what to do. But Jesus showed them that if they have faith and trust in him, he can transform even the little we have into more than enough.
This miraculous feeding encourages us to remember that with faith and trust in Jesus, anything is possible. We should not be limited by what we see or believe to be impossible, but instead, we should offer our resources, no matter how small they may seem, to God and let him work through us in extraordinary ways. He has called ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Preaching the Lectionary 