Genesis 32:23-33
The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 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.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Giving Humility Space to Grow
I am dating myself, but in the old TV serial-comedy Maude, a common line was “God will get you for that, Walter.” Jacob being struck by the divine messenger could be seen as God getting back at Jacob – not just for wrestling so intently and persistently, but also for Jacob’s earlier treachery in deceiving Isaac, his father, into giving his blessing, which was rightfully due to Jacob’s elder twin brother Esau.
More worthwhile to appreciate, though, is that Jacob’s persistence and intention not to give in to the divine will, whatever this wrestling represents, might also be an expression of Jacob’s iron will, ego, and pride. Perhaps his wound is a reminder of who he is in relation to God. Even though Jacob might have seen God’s face and prevailed overnight, he now realizes that his “life has been spared” by the divine will. This is a holy wound, a perpetual reminder of having been spared by God. The wound is to Jacob’s ego, which perhaps gives his humility some space to grow.
—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ, a priest of the Midwest Province, is community minister of Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis.
Prayer
Good and gracious God, please be firm with me when my ego and pridefulness strive to prevail over something I want and expect. When necessary, wound my ego and pride that I may grow more in your image - humble and gentle, kind and generous. Amen.
—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ
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Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.