ISRAEL: 

WRESTLING  WITH  GOD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Israel: Wrestling with God.”

As far as I could pick up in reading about the name “Israel”,  it means, “Wrestling With God.”  Not all agree on that, but Jewish theology is richer when the word “Israel” is translated into “Wresting With God.”

In today’s first reading from Genesis, Jacob - has a name change. He now becomes Israel. He had wrestled with his brother Esau coming out the womb holding his older brothers heel. The name goes well with the story of his life - how he wrestled with various people and situations - and how in today’s reading - he wrestles with someone all night long till the break of dawn. And his hip is knocked out of place - and it seems for the rest of his life Jacob had a pronounced limp.

LIFE  AS  WRESTLING

Wrestling can at times be another word for life.

People are sometimes described, “She’s wrestling with something.”  “He’s wrestling with something. 

Using today’s gospel, we could say, “Sometimes we have to wrestle with our demons.”

I’ve been at many AA meetings - and listened to lots of  “drunkalogues” - a person telling their life story - and many of the stories mention demons. Wasn’t rum labeled “demon rum”?

I’ve also visited folks at Shepherd Pratt - St. Elizabeth’s in Washington D.C. and many other Mental Health Centers. Often in listening to people, I hear about what they are wrestling with,  struggling with, and what have you.  

When we were kids, we often watched wrestling on TV - especially when our uncle Cole was living with us. He thought wrestling was real and baseball was fixed.  He could be a curmudgeon. Yet wrestling is real. Did you ever live or work with someone, who is always into causing mismatches and mishmash?

If we look at our life as a wrestling match, we could ask, “What has been our main enemy?” “What has been the main event?” “Who have been our toughest opponents?” 

Big families offer bigger opportunities for kids to grow. Today’s smaller families provide less opportunities for emotional growth.

One bathroom is a house has its opportunities for patience as well.

Big families also provide the challenge of comparison problems - sibling rivalries - as well as hearing the words, “Not fair” a lot more than when we are   alone.

So the home can be a wrestling ring - so too the playing field - so too the workplace - so too the classroom. Everyone can’t be the smartest kid in the class.  Not everyone can  get the quarterback position. Not everyone can be the lead in the play.  Teachers sometimes have pets - and it isn’t me.

As Chief Justice Roberts said in a commencement address at his son’s graduation from elementary private school recently, “Every kid has to learn that life is not fair.”

PRAYER IS WRESTLING

Prayer is a conversation and a communication with our God. It can also be a wrestling match from time to time.

Prayer - with God - speaking and listening -  is the stuff of every  relationship - and wrestling is part of every relationship.

Read the Psalms.  They  are often about complaints with God.

We think, “My will be done!” more than we pray, “Thy will be done!”

CONCLUSION

Israel was a new edition of Jacob.

His mother tricked Esau - Jacob’s twin brother - out of his legal rights.

And that wrestling match has been going on ever since in and with Israel.

The names are different - that’s all.