meditation on wrestling

[2eclipse]

the story of jacob wrestling with the angel has always appealed to me. i love the depth of this story. what i love is not just that jacob dares to wrestle with an angel, which would be enough reason to love the story on its own...it is that jacob knows it is God and demands a blessing. it is that jacob dares to demand that blessing. it is that jacob values his relationship with God so much that he is willing to wrestle for what he wants...that he will not let the angel go. it is that being with God is a blessing all by itself, even if we have to wrestle the whole time. it is that God values humanity so much that He ENCOURAGES jacob, through the action of his blessing, to struggle with him, and then calls him on it by changing his name - which becomes the name of a people. this is not a peaceable relationship we have with our God. it is a relationship that is full of struggle.
and we do not merely belong to God when we are perfect and reverent and kind and happy. we belong to God when we are angry and contentious and full of ire and restlessness. we who stay in relationship with God are all jacob. we all wrestle with God. we all carry "israel" as a secret name in our hearts. and we are blessed BECAUSE of it, not in spite of it.


x-posted to christian_geek and christianleft

Comments

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

interesting... I'm not a religious-type myself, but I think this is an intriguing mediation all the same. I never thought of that story that way before.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

thanks.
i think it is helpful to look at most bible-stuff that way...not so much of "do things this way" but rather, "how does this story describe our relationship with God." ...i mean, there IS a bit of "do stuff this way" in there...but i find that hard to take unless i am thinking about it in light of relationship. i don't take kindly to orders for no reason.

[keisolo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Strangely, this was one of the stories that stuck in my mind when I was "encouraged" to read the bible and study Christianity...

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

anytime lady-o. i like to talk about faith.