| May 29,
2006
Sumo Jesus?
Genesis 32:24-29; 24 So Jacob was left alone,
and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When
the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched
the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched
as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said,
"Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless
you bless me." 27 The man asked him,
"What is your name?" "Jacob,"
he answered. 28 Then the man said, "Your
name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [e] because
you have struggled with God and with men and have
overcome." 29 Jacob said, "Please
tell me your name." But he replied, "Why
do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
-NIV
Someone asked me Why is there "Sumo Stuff"
on a Christian Web site it could be because I like
Veggietales, but here is another reason:
He had a rough week, His father-in-law had just left
after accusing him of stealing from him. It had been
tense but eventually things were worked out and now
he was on his way to see his brother. He knew tomorrow
would be the hardest day of his life and that was
saying a lot. He hadn’t seen his brother in
almost twenty years and he just knew that his brother
was still mad because he had stolen the entire inheritance
his father had left them and fled with it in fear
for his life. It was time to pay the piper, face the
music so to speak. “Maybe”, he thought,
“just maybe I can buy him off with lots of gifts,
maybe he will not kill me or at the very least maybe
he will spare some of my children.” So he went
off to be by himself and prepare for the next day.
How would you have handled a situation like that.
He knew he had wronged his brother, he knew his brother
had reason to be angry. He was truly sorry for what
he had done but he didn’t know how his brother
would respond. How would you respond? How would you
prepare to talk to your brother? He chose to be by
himself. Many of us do this we run off and hope or
mope by ourselves. This time however something amazing
happened. A man appeared and started to wrestle with
Jacob. This man and Jacob wrestled all night and because
Jacob would not let go until the man gave him his
answer Jacob was blessed. The man never gave his name
but I believe his name was Jesus. The pre-incarnate
Jesus came down and wrestled with Jacob. Why? Not
to harm or punish him but so that he would cry out
and hold onto him in his time of distress.
We all wrestle with many problems. What would happen
if instead we let Jesus do the wrestling. Jesus has
already wrestled Death and defeated it what other
problems would he fight and win for us if we would
just let it go and tag him in.
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