Wrestling With God

Jacob was a liar, a cheat and a cunning manipulator. But he was also a Jew. His religion and upbringing were in the religion of Abraham and Issac. But Jacob, nominally a Jew, had given over the strictures of his religion for the quick gains of lying, cheating and cunning. In today's Old Testament reading, we read that he remembered the face of his father Issac and he decided to return to the faith of his grandfather Abraham. Jacob' decision, however, involved an encounter with the living God- he literally wrestled with God. The wrestling match is a symbol to all of us today who may decide to return home from the far country of socialism, secularism or whatever, "ism" with which we are involved.