Saturday, December 23, 2017

Sermon for Advent Midweek 3 (December 20, 2017)


Midweek Sermon for Advent 3 (December 20, 2017)

“Peniel”

TEXT: Genesis 32:22-30

Psalm 24

LSB 352: Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord



Talk about having bragging rights.  Men in Jacob’s day might be able to brag about wrestling a bear, or a lion, maybe.  But Jacob?  He could brag that he once wrestled with God … and won!

But his wrestling didn’t merely begin there at the ford of the Jabbok, the place that came to be known as Peniel, which means “the face of God.”  Jacob’s wrestling with God started much earlier.  In the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother Esau.  Esau was born first.  He had the birthright as the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah.  But as Esau came forth from his mother’s womb, his twin brother’s hand was hanging on to Esau’s heel, as if to anticipate the struggle to come over his brother’s birthright.  When they were a little older, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mere bowl of stew.

Jacob’s wrestling with God continued when he attempted to deceive his father out of the blessing due to Esau.  Mom was in on this, too, since Jacob was her favorite.  They conceived a plan to make Isaac think that Jacob was really Esau, dressing Jacob in Esau’s clothing and covering his exposed skin with goat hide, since Esau was extra hairy, unlike his brother.  While Esau was off hunting, Rebekah prepared the goat meat and had Jacob present it to Isaac, who was now old and practically blind.  Thinking Jacob was Esau, he blessed him with the blessing due to Esau. When Esau returned and Jacob’s deception was found out, Esau was devastated and furious, of course.  His father was unable to take his word of blessing back.  He had nothing left to give him except word that Esau’s descendants would serve those of his brother.  And so, Esau determined to kill his brother Jacob after his father was dead.  Jacob had truly lived up to his name:  Jacob, which means “deceiver.”  Esau lamented this when he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?  For he has cheated me these two times.  He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing” (Gen. 27:36).  Rebekah learned of Esau’s plan to kill Jacob, so she warned Jacob and told him to flee, which he did.  He hightailed it to his uncle Laban’s house far to the north in Paddan-Aram where his grandfather Abraham once lived.

It was God’s will all along that Jacob receive the rights as firstborn, even though Jacob wrestled it away from Esau … and, if you will, from God, in a sense.  But no one knew this at the time.  God often does things in hidden and surprising ways, even working in spite of human foibles and human sin … in spite of Jacob’s conniving ways.  It was God’s plan that Jacob be the child of the promise, continuing in the line of Abraham and Isaac … and now Jacob.  The Seed of the Woman promised to Eve – the offspring that would be the coming Savior – would pass through Jacob’s family, too.

Many years pass.  Jacob marries Rachel and Leah.  His household prospers.  He has many children.  The time comes for him to leave Paddan-Aram and return to his home and to his father Isaac.  On the way, though, he had to pass through the land where his brother Esau was living.  Word came to him that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.  And Jacob was afraid.  He remembered his brother’s murderous promise.  This was one wrestling match that Jacob did not want to endure.  Moreover, Jacob seems to have had a change of heart since his days of being a “deceiver.”  He turns to the Lord in prayer, asking for deliverance.  He sends a truce offering of over 500 animals.

And that brings us to the smack down that Jacob gave to God, the third of our theophanies for Advent.  Jacob sent his family across the stream of the Jabbok and he was left alone.  That night, a man wrestled with Jacob all night long, but could not prevail over him.  The man then touched Jacob’s hip socket and put it out of joint.  At that point, Jacob seemed to recognize something unique about this man.  This was God himself.  And so, even with an out-of-joint hip, he takes hold of God and insists on a blessing.  The Lord responds by giving Jacob a new name … Israel, meaning “he strives with God.”  And although the Lord would not give Jacob his name, he still blessed him, leading Jacob to name the place where this wrestling match occurred “Peniel” … “the face of God.”  Jacob said, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”  Following this, Jacob was prepared to meet his brother again, who had also had a change of heart.  There was no need to be afraid.  Not of God.  Jacob’s faith and trust in the Lord had been renewed.  There was certainly no need to be afraid of Esau.  In the next chapter there is a joyful, tearful reunion between the two brothers.

            In what ways do you and I wrestle with God?  We wrestle with him when we fight against his will.  The Law has a choke-hold on us, and yet we try to squirm our way out of it.  We know the Ten Commandments.  We know what we should and should not do.  And yet we often choose to disobey.    

            We also wrestle with our doubts.  Satan tries to sneak up on us when we don’t expect it and body slams us to the mat, filling us with doubt and despair and disbelief.  Satan is our deceiver who does all he can to get us to doubt God’s Word, doubt God’s love and care for us, make us think that he is absent and far-removed from us, make us wonder whether he even exists at all.

            We can also wrestle with God in prayer … and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Like Abraham who boldly came before God to intercede for the people of Sodom, we can boldly come before our Father in heaven.  We can bring our questions and complaints to him like the psalmists often did, questions and complaints such as “How long shall my honor be turned into shame? (Ps. 4:2), “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Ps. 10:1), “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:10-2), “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of my enemy? … my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, Where is your God?” (Ps. 42:9).  I could go on.  There are other places such as Psalm 73 where the psalmist wonders why the wicked prosper but the righteous suffer.

We wrestle, because it does seem as if God hides himself from us.  It seems as if he is absent and silent.  Bad things happen to us or to our family and friends, and we wonder where God is in all of it.  We see images of horror and terror broadcast in the news, death and destruction brought upon seemingly innocent people, and we wonder why God does not intervene.

This is when we must trust in the way God has revealed himself to us.  We see the face of God in Jesus.  Jesus is our “Peniel.”  In him we see the face of God.  In Christ God’s loving character and saving will for us and all creation are most fully revealed to us.  In Jesus we see the face of God.  In him we are delivered from all our sin, from death, and from the power of the satanic deceiver.  In him, we know that God loves us with an everlasting love, even when our circumstances suggest otherwise.

We see the face of God in the baby in the manger.  We see the face of God in the man on the cross.  This is the man from whom the face of his Father was hidden.  With all our sins laid upon him, Jesus cried out with the complaint, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  God the Father turned his face away from his Son at the cross.  In Christ Jesus, God the Father hides his face from our sins. We are forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Christ.  We are righteous by faith in his work for us at the cross.  And he turns his face toward us.  He looks upon you with favor.  He lifts up his countenance upon you.  As St. Peter says in 1 Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.”

            The question Jesus asked from the cross, however, was not asked in doubt or unbelief.  He was always faithful … for us.  Therefore, the Father had no other choice but to raise his righteous Son from the dead.  And Mary Magdalene saw his risen face.  As did the two men on the road to Emmaus.  And Peter and the Twelve.  And Thomas.  And 5oo at one time.  And Paul on the road to Damascus.  And one day we, too, will see our Risen Lord Jesus face to face.

            At Peniel, Jacob was prepared to see his brother from whom he had been estranged for so long.  With the blessing of God upon him, and with a new name, he was prepared to humble himself before his brother and reconcile with him.  Esau ran to meet Jacob, embraced him, and they wept together.  Jacob demonstrated how his heart had truly changed, and said to his brother, “For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God.”

            With Jesus as our Peniel … in whom we see God’s face and by whom we are redeemed … we are prepared to reunite with our brothers and sisters.  With the blessing of God upon us in Holy Baptism, and with a new name – the name of the Triune God – upon us, we are prepared to humble ourselves before each other and be reconciled.  With a new heart created within us, we can look at our fellow baptized believers in Christ face to face, and it will be like seeing the face of God in them … and loving them as God in Christ loves us.

            Amen.

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