An Angel attacs Jacob

Dear sisters and brothers,

In recent years angels became very popular - in Germany many fancy booklets were published on them and you can buy all sorts of protecting angel figurines to give as a gift to your loved ones, most of them in sweet and funny shapes, so it`s left to open whether you are really serious about them. But many people are, if mostly in a rather vague way.

Looking at these fashionable angels you find little trace of what the Bible associates with them: being powerful messengers of God: proclaiming, sometimes interpreting God`s word of grace and justice.

In the Bible angels are no harmless little creatures, and they not only accompany and safeguard people on the way, but sometimes fiercely block it. For example think of the angel with the sword of fire who keeps the gates of paradise shut, so no one can go back there once human beings have trespassed Gods beneficial limits.

Another angel steps in the way of the gentile prophet Bileam, who travels on his donkey to obey his kings wish to curse the people of Israel (and remarkably enough its only the donkey who notices the angel, not the prophet!)

Now in this weeks parasha  a mysterious person, often depicted as an angel, attacks Jacob as he is on his way back home, having made plans as to how to apease his brother Esau, 20 years after having cheated him out of their fathers blessing.

In the meantime Jacob had to realize that a stolen blessing allows no peaceful blessed life. After cheating Esau, Jacob couldn´t stay near the tents anymore as he previously used to do, but he had to flee from his brothers wrath. He found refuge in his uncle`s house far away, but he had to work as a servant, in no way becoming a ruler as he might have expected from his blessing. For 14 years he had to toil hard, before being able to marry his beloved Rachel, because his uncle cheated him into marrying unloved Lea, Rachels elder sister first. Then finally Jacob became rich, but his wealth caused his uncles jealousy and rage, so again he had to flee. Where to? Jacob could think of no other place than to return home. But returning home meant having to face Esau. And how would his brother react? Would the old wound of having been cheated, still hurt? Would Esau try to take revenge?

Jacob didn`t know and was afraid, the more so after he learned that Esau was approaching with 400 men around him. Still, cunning as Jacob always had been, he again made a clever plan, assuming he could probably soothe his brothers wrath with generous presents. But just in case this wouldn`t work, he sent half of his companions together with half of his belongings along another path, so not everything he owned was at risk.

When night fell, he lead his family with the other half of his belongings across the river Jabbok, but then remained back by himself alone. Probably he wanted some quiet to concentrate on what was to come in the decisive encounter with Esau. But then a mysterious person suddenly attacked him fiercely in the dark and the two of them kept wrestling until dawn, no one being able to win over the other one. As darkness was about to lift, the unknown attacker struck Jacobs hip with a strong blow which made the joint of it twist. Right afterwards he asked Jacob to release him. But even in his great pain Jacob held on tight, saying: I won`t let you go, unless you bless me.

Tell me your name, his attacker demanded. And by answering it`s Jacob, Jacob admitted what his name implied: I am the one who clinged to the heels of my brother at birth, never accepting being second, I am Jacob, the liar, the crook, who cheated his brother and his father in order to get blessed, attempting to force the blessing on me. And getting blessed is what I am struggling for now once more. Therefore: I won`t let you go unless you bless me.

And indeed, thereafter Jacob receives the blessing of the one he wrestled with all night. And he receives a new name with it: No more shall you be called Jacob, but Israel ...

A new name, a new beginning for Jacob: Who is able to grant this renewal other than God himself? So actually there is no need for Jacob to ask his counterpart for his name. But he does, always wanting to be sure, always wanting to get everything under his control. But his request is refused. The mysterious attacker disappears. He leaves Jacob to draw his own consequences. And now relying on his experience and on his faith Jacob calls the place Pniel: meaning: I have seen the Lord face to face yet my life was spared.

In a way one could say, Jacob has won the battle. But he is not a triumphant winner. As the sun rises, he leaves the place limping, a winner forever marked by the traces of the battle – like later on the one who wrestled and won over death and kept the marks of the nails even after having risen from the grave. God`s own son – a wounded winner as well.

Now who was Jacobs mysterious attacker in the dark? Jewish tradition claims, it was Esaus angel fighting for the rights of the betrayed, and destroying Jacobs clever plan, to soothe the wrath of his brother in his intended easy way, with presents, sort of buying himself out of his guilt. But can wounds ever be amended by money, and by money alone, without any renewal of one`s attitude toward the victim? No, reconciliation sometimes has to be fought for in a severe battle. And in this case Esaus angel left Jacob forever wounded and thus taught him humility towards his brother. And the Jewish interpretation continues: It was actually Esau whom Jacob so desparatly asked for his blessing!

Psychologists assume, it was a psychological battle. Jakob had to fight against his guilt. On the verge of the encountering his brother, Jacob could no longer ignore or push aside the pain he had inflicted on him. Now he was forced to face it. And he struggled not to be crushed by his immense guilt but to gain life, to win a future for himself and his brother, which is the equivalent to the Biblical meaning of getting blessed.

The Bible however suggests it was God himself Jacob was wrestling with. An interpretation confirmed by Jacobs new name Israel, meaning having fought with God and men and having won. But in this battle Jacob also had to learn Gods face and the face of his brother are one. Later he will say to Esau: To see your face is like seeing God`s own face.

But if we agree, it has been God who attacked Jacob, what does that say about God?

The God of Israel is a God who doesn`t remain way up in heaven, but mingles with the battles of our life, putting himself into our hands. He is a God who comes close to us not only in comfort but also in darkness, blocking our way and making us wrestle with him, yet also making himself vulnerable in this battle, a God to even be defeated by his human partners, and to be moved into blessing and renewing the guilty ones, the sinners.

There is a great assertion in his love as we can see in the story of Jacob : no matter how wicked we are God will not abandon us. But as his wrestling with Jacob shows, there is also a loving NO in his love, confronting us with the depth of our guilt in the relation to our brothers and sisters, and keeping us from going on with it. But to underline it once again: it`s a loving NO, wrestling with our fatal wish to save ourselves and get everything under our own control

So finally not sovereignly, but limping Jacob meets his brother, humbly bowing down 7 times before him asking his brothers forgiveness. But Esau runs to meet him, throws his arms around him and kisses him, receiving his lost brother with great forgiving love. And deeply moved they both cry and mingle their tears upon this new encounter.

In a way this reconciliation seems to me a model for our commemoration of the 9^th of November. For centuries our Christian Church has tried to steal God`s blessing from her Jewish brothers and sisters, denying their right as the first born children of God and leaving a bloody trace of jealousy throughout our history, which culminated in the holocaust. After inflicting this unmessurable wound to the Jewish people reconciliation between Christians and Jews cannot to be bought by financial compensations as many Germans thought after the war. Reconciliation is a precious gift, granted by the victims and fostered by a radical spiritual renewal of Christian theology and daily life attitude towards the Jewish people, learning that God`s face and the face of our Jewish brothers and sisters is one and starting out with deep mourning: mourning the 6 million victims and on our side mourning the unfathomable guilt of our German people. Moved by what happened in the past may God bless us to keep working together for a never again!