"Disciples Wrestle with God" (October 19, 2025 Sermon)

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Text: Genesis 32:22-31

All right, friends, this is one of my favorite stories in Genesis, and I only get to talk about it for five minutes, so this should be fun. It's a really great story because I think that who among us doesn't know what it feels like to wrestle with God? Who among us doesn't know what it feels like to wrestle with God and maybe, like Jacob, walk away with a little limp but also a blessing? I could preach dozens of sermons just on that one question, but I wanted to remind us of what was happening in this passage.

Sarah and Abraham had a son named Isaac. You may recall that he was called Isaac because that is the Hebrew word for laughter. Sarah famously laughed when she was told she would have a child, so that child's name was Isaac, which means “laughter” in Hebrew. Later, Isaac married a woman named Rebekah, and they had two sons named Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau were twins and were often at odds with each other right from birth. Esau was born first, and Jacob was born grabbing Esau's heel, which is how he got the Hebrew name Yaqob. From the very start, Jacob and Esau were rivals. Rivalry among siblings is a common theme in the Bible, especially when one parent favors one child and the other parent favors the other. In this case, Isaac favored Esau, the firstborn, while Rebekah favored Jacob, the younger.

From the start, they don't get along very well, and you might know some stories about how Jacob famously cheated Esau out of his birthright as the firstborn, both with a cup of soup and by pretending to be him, because Isaac was famously blind and Esau was famously hairy. Jacob put on a sheepskin at his mother's insistence to appear hairy like his brother. Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright twice, and understandably, Esau was not the happiest camper in the world! So much so that he was ready to kill his brother Jacob. If this begins to sound like a soap opera, it's because it really is. Long before there was ever “General Hospital,” “The Edge of Night,” or any other of your favorite soap operas, there was this soap opera called “the Book of Genesis.” Eventually, because of the rivalry between Jacob and Esau, Jacob decides that he needs to lay low until Esau cools off.

So Jacob goes away to a far land and falls in love with a beautiful woman named Rachel. He then goes to Rachel's father, Laban, and gets tricked into marrying the wrong sister. Instead of Rachel, he marries her sister Leah, which is a great ironic moment because Jacob is known as a trickster himself. He's sometimes called the “trickster” of the Old Testament. This marks a surprising turn of events: the trickster becomes the tricked. As a result, he has to work as an indentured servant for Laban for a while. Long story short, things turn out pretty well for him—he marries both Leah and Rachel, becomes quite wealthy, and starts a family. After some time, he starts to believe that Esau might have cooled off, so he decides to go back and try to make amends with the brother he hurt.

So he's on his way back to his family when all this happens. Jacob sends the women, the children, and the livestock ahead of him, maybe as a bit of a 'buffer' in case Esau is still a little upset. He stays behind, and this is when this divine wrestling match occurs. We don't know what caused it. The text is frustratingly brief on details. But this man, this angel, this presence wrestles Jacob through the night, and we don't find out who it is until the next morning, when Jacob realizes he's been wrestling with God. Interestingly, it's not Jacob who tires first. It's not Jacob who says, “Uncle!” Instead, God eventually says, 'Okay, okay, I'm done.” So another topic for a sermon could be “what does it mean to wrestle with God and have God be the one to say enough?” But that's another sermon. Then God says, 'Release me,” and Jacob replies to God, “No, I will not let you go unless you bless me.” He insists, “I'm not walking away without something to show for it.”

And that's exactly what God gives Jacob—His blessing and a new name: “Israel.” “Israel” means "he or they who wrestle with God,' derived from the Hebrew verb “to wrestle.” Therefore, the Israelites are God wrestlers, and by extension, we are as well. That's what disciples do—they wrestle with God.

I don't know what you're wrestling with right now, but I have had enough pastoral conversations with you all over the past few months to know that we are all struggling with a lot. There's a lot going on in the world, in our families, at our workplaces, and perhaps even in our churches and other communities. So, if you're feeling frustrated or think you're lacking in faith because you're wrestling, I have good news for you: if you're wrestling with God or anything else at the moment, you're in good company. In fact, wrestling is how we grow. Wrestling means receiving God's blessing, yes, and sometimes walking away with a limp.

But the good news is, in the context of this story, on the other side of wrestling is reconciliation. I don't know what was going through Jacob's mind as he wrestled with God, but I do know that after receiving this blessing and walking away with that limp, he went to Esau and admitted he had done him wrong. He asked for Esau's forgiveness, and Esau forgave him. So I hope that, as you all wrestle with everything going on in the world and in your lives, you are reminded of the promise of reconciliation. And may we always hold on to the truth that, in whatever we wrestle with, we worship a God who welcomes us to that wrestling match and gives us a blessing for our faithful struggle.

Find ways to remember that, whatever you're struggling with. The verse right after today’s passage says that the Israelites to this day do not eat the meat of the thigh muscle to remember this divine wrestling match. So, friends and fellow God wrestlers, you're in good company. We are in good company, and there is reconciliation and growth through our wrestling with God and our faith.

I also want to close with a quote from Mr. Rogers, who as you all know, stays up here in the pulpit with me. He once said, "There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth."

Friends, in the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us, the God wrestlers, say, Amen.

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Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.