The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."  So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle. (Genesis 32:22-32 NRSV)

Have you ever watched Children on a playground?

It is not only fascinating to watch the little ones play,
but it is also quite instructive.
Children have their own rules and stratagy,
morals and ethics,
all of which are well-suited to playground life.

One of the most fascinating games,
one which seems to have lasted from my childhood days
down to the present generation,
is the games of “cooties.”
Sunday afternoon before last I sat in my office,
here at the Church,
and watched as the children played this ancient game
for almost an hour.
I am eternally amused at the ability of the oral tradition
to transmit, from one grade to the next,
the idea behind “cooties,”
as well as the rules by which
one may be infected by the girls
and then cleansed by a “good” fairy,
carrying a large wand.
I’m told that in less affluent communities,
“cooties” is the childhood term for lice,
but in communities like the one in which I grew up,
as well as in this one,
“cooties” has developed into an affliction of mythological porportions
-- girls are the carriers, of course, and boys can be infected with
it if any of these girls touch or grab them. And, if the
“cootie-monster,” one of the especially infectious girls, approaches,
the boys shout “COOTIES! COOTIES!” and scatter.
I can remember sitting, alone, on the playground,
and being attacked by the “cootie-monster” when I thought
I was safe and well-hidden.
It always seemed as though, when you least expected it, the “cootie-monster”
would show up, and then you were in trouble.

In this morning’s reading from the Old Testament,
we find the Biblical equivalent of the “cootie-monster” fight.
All Jacob needed, with his worries about his brother Esau,
was for this unknown person to break in on his
lonely mopeing and bother him.
Only, Jacob had a twist in store for the attacker.
More accurately, it was Jacob who turned out to be the attacker!
Jacob was well known for grabbing people.
Like the “cootie-monster” of my boarding school days,
Jacob could grab on and never let go!
That was, after all, how he got his name!
He was born grabbing the heel of his twin-brother Esau --
and his name, “Jacob,” means “heel catcher.”
A professor of Old Testament at SMU
calls Jacob “Grabby” because he was always grabbing things
that weren’t his:
His brother
The Birthright
Sisters
Sheep

Dr. Power as right, and this morning we find Jacob grabbing onto,
and refusing to let go of his assailant.
It is an encounter which we least expect at this time.
We are, after all, expecting Jacob’s brother to show up
and attack him, not some quasi-divine character.
And, yet, we really shouldn’t be surprised.
We should realize, by now, that we can pretty much expect
to encounter God in many strange places,
guises, and ways.

This IS the message of Advent,
and of the Christmas Story, is it not?
Thing about it. We claim that the Almighty God,
the creator of all that is,
Encounters us, in time and space, in a babe in a manger.
Rediculous! And, yet, it is true.
We were expecting the coming of a King,
and we got a child, rapped in swaddling clothes.
We were expecting a mighty ruler,
and we got a suffering servant.
We were expecting a powerful warrior,
and we got a peacemaker.

Jacob was expecting his brother,
and he encountered God.

I am sure Jacob was just as surprised as we,
but this sudden course of events didn’t keep Jacob from being Jacob.
He remained good old “Grabby” throughout the whole fight!
And, then, the encounter changed him.

We, too, should expect God’s breaking in on the world
in the Christ Child, Jesus, to change US.
In his encounter with God,
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel,
“Grabby” became as “grabber” for God,
a “Resolute fighter.”
When we encounter God in Jesus Christ,
our name is changed from “heathen”
to a “Child of God.”

It’s a jarring event,
this encounter.
Jacob’s hip was thrust out of joint.

Our Souls are re-formed.
We are called to a recognition of our sin
when we encounter the Chist Child.
We are called to repentence, and we are told to expect, and accept,
forgiveness.
It is, indeed, a jaring event to be contronted with your sin.
And, it is equally jarring to be forgiven.

And Jacob, too, was jarred.
-- in more ways then in just his hip
-- in more ways then in just the changing of his name.
Until the encounter, Jacob was not prepared for this meeting with Esau.
God knew that Jacob could never face his brother
as the selfish, self-centered “Grabby”
Jacob could never accept Esau’s forgiveness,
which would come in Genesis 33,
without first coming to grips with his calling,
without first coming to grips with the forgiveness of God.
Before Jacob could meet with Esau, he had to become Israel.
And this is what his encounter with God produced.
It was Jacob, and not God, who was the “cootie monster” of the story,
He was the one who attacked.
He was the one who needed cleansing.
He was the one who needed jarring.
We are the “cootie-monster” of our story.
We are the ones who need cleansing.
We are the ones who need jarring.
And, it is our encounter with God in Jesus Christ,
That Child on Christmas Morning, that jars us.
In this child we are cleansed of the infectious “cooties” of our childhood days,
we are cleansed of the deadly affliction of sin and death,
which has plauged us since our very birth.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
--Amen

© 1992, Rev. Gregory S. Neal
All Rights Reserved