Homily 2 August 2026
Jacob Struggles for a New Name
Christina (Tina) McKinlay
August 4, 2026
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
Homily Pentecost 10, Year A, 2 August 2026
Jacob Struggles for a New Name
Twenty years before the incident recorded in today's first reading (Genesis 32. 22-31), Jacob had fled his father's home; he left with the clothes on his back, a bartered birthright, and a stolen blessing.
Jacob had lived up to his name - a name which means "heel catcher", or more simply, "one who deceives, or tricks another".
Jacob went to the land of HARAN and there he practised his art on his father-in-law, a man who also was rather crafty and tricked Jacob into marrying the wrong woman. After twenty years Jacob fled his father-in-law's home, taking with him the great wealth that he had earned, a wealth measured in wives, livestock, and children. After fleeing the home of Laban, Jacob has a dream in which an angel tells him to decide to return to his homeland.
But there is a catch - as there so often is when we try to go home after leaving it under a cloud. When Jacob returns, he must face his brother Esau, the very brother of whom he had taken advantage, the very brother whom he had cheated out of his birthright.
Jacob is afraid and so, he approaches his homeland, he sends a messenger to inform Esau that he is on his way and that he has become very wealthy. When the messenger returns, he tells Jacob that Esau is coming out to meet him, and that there are 400 men with him.
This news does encourage Jacob at all.
So, Jacob divides his herds, and his people and everything he has into two -- thinking that just perhaps if Esau attacks him one group will escape. And then he prays. He sends five messengers to Esau, each a little after the other, each with a different gift of livestock, hoping perhaps to both impress and appease his brother.
And then night falls. It is at this point that today's first reading begins. Esau is a but a little way ahead of Jacob, sometime the next day they will meet.
And Jacob is afraid.
To prepare for the morning Jacob sends his two wives, his two concubines, his eleven sons, and all the rest of his possessions across the stream called Jabbok. And he is left totally alone, in the dark, camped by a little stream, wondering what will happen the next day, and something happens: a man wrestled with Jacob till daybreak but could not overpower him; in the process Jacob wound his hip but still will not let go. Finally, the man pleads with Jacob to release him but Jacob refuses to do so until he receives a blessing.
The man agrees to this condition, saying to Jacob: "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
Jacob, at this point, asks the man his name, but the man refuses to answer him, saying "why do you ask me my name." And then he blesses Jacob and disappears from our story.
And Jacob? Jacob gives the place where he camped a name - PENIEL saying "It is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared." And he limps away because of the wound to his hip, rejoins his family, and goes forth to meet Esau, and Esau receives him kindly, hugging him and welcoming him as a long-lost brother.
It is an interesting story - but what are we to make of it?
Who or what was it that Jacob wrestled with?
Was it his own fear? Or was it with his own personality that he struggled?
His habit of always looking for the advantage?
His way of doing wrong when he should do right?
What we know for sure about this incident is that it was hard, it was draining, and that it left Jacob with a mark, a distinguishing mark - a limp caused by an injured hip.
And we know too one other very important thing, namely that Jacob himself was convinced that he had struggled with an angel and that he had won something important - that he had won a blessing.
That is at least what Jacob thought.
But the question remains, who did he really struggle with?
The man, after all, refused to give his name. While Jacob wrestled all that long night, he did not know with what he was struggling, he only knew that he would not let go until some good came of it.
And it was long, and it was hard, and it hurt, and even though he had family and friends, and wealth, he was alone in his struggle.
Despite its mystery, I believe that all of us can relate to Jacob’s story.
All of us have had, or will have, the same struggle as did he—a time when we must face the wrong we have done, the harm and the hurt we have caused, the consequences of our actions. And always, it is long, it is hard, and it is, despite any help from family and friends, lonely and dark.
For each of us there is appointed a dark night of the soul. A time when we must struggle and either win or lose a blessing.
In those times, there is doubt, and confusion, often there is anger and despair, mistakes we have made catch up to us, and things we did not anticipate -- and do not know the name of -- seek to overwhelm us.
And we are afraid.
Afraid because the struggle itself is painful, and afraid because deep down we know that if we give up, if we let go, we will be overwhelmed. And afraid too, that even if we manage to survive the struggle that nothing will come of it but another struggle and then another. All of us, carry inside us some pain, some hurt, some issue, with which we must struggle.
It is not fun, but neither is it insurmountable, or unbeatable.
Jacob struggled; he wrestled, he won. And so can we.
The prophet Isaiah says, 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.' (Isaiah. 43. 1c-3a)
There is a choice in our struggles, a choice in our dark nights when we are alone and must face - must face - that which we do not know - that which may be related to our past - that which may be connected to our future,
The choice is this: Do we see the struggle as a struggle with angels; a struggle in which we can win a blessing? Or, do we see it as simply (and only) unwanted pain?
We have, you and I, a name - the name of Christ.
And we, like Christ, also bear the name of Jacob. With Christ, we are spiritual descendants of the man who struggled by the stream Jabbok and received the name Israel, "He struggles with God".
We have a choice. Our trials can be blessings to us, our wrestling can result in grace being heaped upon us, our struggles can end in triumph and glory.
Or we can give up and let go.
Jacob did not know with whom he struggled -- nor was he ever told. But he was clever enough to ask for a blessing within it, and he would not let go until he received it.
And yes, Jacob was injured in his struggle.
His hip was damaged, and he walked with a limp. But as a result of his struggle, he did win, And his injury became a sacred thing,
Remember always that the man who left the Jabbok the next morning was a changed man -- a man with a new name -- a man who founded a people and a nation because he would not give up in his struggling.
We too have a new name - we were baptized in it. We were baptized in the name of Christ.
And in that baptism, we were united with Christ, united in his struggles and his death, and united in his victory over death. Amen.