Homily for Tuesday
14th Week of Ordinary Time
July 6, 2021
Gen 32: 23-33
St. Joseph’s Home, N.R.
Yesterday’s
1st reading told of Jacob’s going into exile in the old homeland, Haran, as he
fled from Esau (Gen 28: 10-22). In both
that event and in the one recounted today, he has mysterious encounters with
the divine. Yesterday he dreamt of a
stairway leading up to heaven with ascending and descending it, and God
promised to protect him, bless him, and bring him back to this Promised Land.
Now, on his way back to Canaan, after a contentious relationship with his uncle Laban—we’ve skipped over that whole story and Jacob’s taking Laban’s 2 daughters as wives—and as Jacob faces a dangerous meeting with his brother Esau, he encounters a heavenly being of some kind in the dead of nite, and they fight.
Jacob
fares badly enuf that he’s compelled to reveal his name (32:28). According to one of the most prominent Old
Testament scholars of the last century, “The name was closely linked with its
bearer in such a way that the name contained something of the character of the
one who bore it. Thus, in giving his
name, Jacob at the same time had to reveal his whole nature … [it] designates
its bearer as a cheat.”[1] It’s like a confession of his deceptive and
manipulative behavior all his life.
But
the heavenly being gives him a new name, Israel (32:29), “a name of honor, in
which God will recognize and accept him”[2];
he has contended with men like Esau and Laban and prevailed or will prevail,
and he has faced God and been faithful—not only in his wrestling match but
during his exile.
He’ll
still have much to suffer in his long life, from his fractious sons in
particular; but he’ll remain faithful to his divinely appointed role of
patriarch of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The
naming theme is relevant for us. Our
original character is that we’re born as sinners, and we spend our lives in
contention with a mysterious power—the prince of darkness. But God has given us a new name, Christian;
and in the power of that name we can prevail over anything that the Demon may
throw at us.
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