After Jacob and Esau were born we stayed around-being good tent guests. We stood by as Jacob tricked Esau in giving up the birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. We sat in the shadows of his father’s tent when Jacob deceived his own father Isaac to give him, the younger one, the ancestral blessing. We were on the run with Jacob when he fled for his life because Esau vowed to kill him over the misbegotten birthright and blessing. Did we lose some of you back at that first campsite? Are you still on the run and hiding from God? Are you still ignoring His call on your life? It’s not too late.

Onward we traveled with Jacob to finally come to live with his mother’s people. Jacob met his match in dear Uncle Laban. The deceiver is deceived and made to work for it to boot. Jacob spent 20 years with Laban. For the most part he did not recognize the disciplining hand of God. All that time God was working with Jacob - and us - to make him - and us - into people God wants. Some of us continue to deceive ourselves and others. Some continue to labor and serve anything and anybody, except God.

Then we witnessed God speaking to Jacob telling him it was time to leave Laban and get on home. You and I helped to get the wives, and the children away from Laban. And what a moving day that was - only to have the whole move just about go up in smoke because dear, beloved Rachel had stolen her father’s idols. What idols are we still holding onto? What continues to stop us from depending fully on God? What holds us back from a new and full life in God?

Continuing on the journey home Jacob finds himself alone. And God did it again. God met Jacob - well actually God sort of assaulted - okay God attacked the ol’ boy. And there you and I were, right in the middle of the fracas. Our own struggle with God might still be going on. You see, God chooses to reach out to each of us right where we are, in ways that will best suit us to God’s purpose. God makes our weakness - strength and power in Him. It is at those times that we expect God to strengthen us, to comfort us, to support us. When we sense God’s hand in our lives, we expect it to lift us up - not try to fling us to the ground…although that might be just what is needed. God knows what will grow us, strengthen and prepare us for what is ahead in God’s purpose. God is a God of hope, and we can count on God to be our strength when we have none.

I think Jacob expected that sort of God to see him through to the reconciliation with Esau and on home. Jacob found himself in a wrestling match. In the end Jacob was blessed. Jacob was also marked for life by God. And God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Israel means: wrestled with God and prevailed. That was our blessing too. We are part of Israel’s spiritual descendants…too many to count. As God’s people we must wrestle with God, struggle with God, challenge and be challenged by God. This is all part of the very nature of being the people of God. If we deny or ignore that, then we deny and ignore part of who God calls us to be. We deny and ignore the part that God named us to be at the river Jabbok.

In the meantime, Jacob has came face to face with his brother. Together with Jacob we must face our own demons, and overcome them. God helps us to overcome. Some of our battles might include alcoholism, drugs, self-esteem, relationships with others and with God. Perhaps our struggle with God is for our children. Physical like the Moshers right now and like many of you have already experienced. Spiritual like some of you have done and others are in the midst right now. And, we must right our wrongs - yes, especially the greatest of wrongs. That could include healing family wounds. Finding and giving forgiveness. In turning to seek the face of forgiveness, Jacob found also - after much struggle - the face of God. When we turn, we will also see the face of God.

Since that emotional reconciliation between brothers so much happened. Much more than the time permits for the telling this morning. You can catch up by reading Genesis 35-50. But know that Rachel died just after giving birth to Benjamin, the last of Jacob’s sons. There is a marker near Bethlehem that marks her burial place today. Isaac dies, and Jacob and Esau, together, bury their father. Later Leah is honored in death as she is buried in the family burial cave. Yes, you and I help to bury Rachel - along with our own loved ones. There are markers for our loved ones at grave sites, in our homes and in our hearts.

As we read Genesis chapters 35-50, we see that many of the themes of Jacob’s life are echoed in the story of his favorite son Joseph and his other sons. In that story Jacob, now Israel is deceived by his elder sons. Joseph, the younger son, prevails.

Joseph was 17 when he was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt as a slave. God blessed Joseph there. Joseph, through God’s plan and protection, eventually becomes the ruler of Egypt - second only to Pharaoh himself. Joseph has the responsibility of making provision during good seven years and for the seven-year famine to come.

So you see, in order to save Jacob and the entire tribal clan from starving to death during the seven-year famine, God works though Joseph (and the Pharoah). God’s plan brings Jacob to Egypt. But Jacob literally has to give up everything. Jacob/Israel has to give up all control and life as he knew it to God. Israel, not Jacob, FINALLY puts God first. You and I must put god first. As we heard in the scripture passage I read, Jacob does agree to go to Egypt with his sons in order to get the grain for food. But this time he insists they all make a short detour to Beersheba. Beersheba is Palestine.

Beersheba is the center of ancestral activity. Abraham foolishly left Beersheba for Egypt years before in another famine situation. Isaac never left Beersheba not even in the search for wife. So Jacob comes by his confusion honestly. He seeks unambiguous divine guidance. Jacob insists on approaching God first. Jacob/Israel is clearly unwilling to make a move without God’s approval. And God reassures Jacob/Israel by promising to go with him and to take care of him.

When new situations or surroundings frighten us, we need to recognize that experiencing fear is normal. To be paralyzed by fear, however, is an indication that we question God’s ability to take care of us. And God never leaves believers unrewarded when we totally commit ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit. The reaping is always beyond our highest expectations.

When Jacob arrives in Egypt God gives him back his beloved Joseph. There is full reconciliation of all Jacob’s sons. And, for the first time the name ISRAEL is used collectively for Jacob, the man, and for the family of Jacob. Despite the uprooting, the famine and life in an alien land, the family prospers. God had been entirely faithful in making him fruitful.

The one who has named himself Yahweh, the covenant God of Abraham and Isaac, had shown himself powerful to fulfill the promise given to the cheating, homeless, arrogant youth, on the run from justice. The substance of the blessing was the promise of many descendants to whom God would give the land. Jacob, on his own deathbed, names and blesses his sons as twelve tribal heads. Each is significant as a recognized part of the people of Abraham. Israel now becomes the nation of God. The transformation from heel-grabber to patriarch to spiritual leader is complete.

Jacob’s journey is our journey. You and I continue on our journey. We continue to live life. We make decisions. We watch as our children get in trouble, grow and become men and women of substance. We disappoint people around us. We experience betrayal. We grow to forgive and receive forgiveness. We struggle with living life our way. We struggle in our spiritual journey with God throughout all of life. Out of our weakness and brokenness, God works, strengthens and makes us people God can and does use for His purpose.

As we approach the Table for communion today, on our life journey you and I must come to see the nail-scarred person of God-made-flesh. Jesus Christ understood better than any of us the high cost of faithfulness. Our wounds, our struggles, are not signs of our failures. Rather they remind us that we too have wrestled with God for we are the beloved children of God. God promises you and me that He will always be with us. God, through Jesus Christ, is the one who created us, redeems us and sustains us.