Wrestling Until Dawn

Genesis 32:22-31

Pentecost 10, August 2, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Wrestling Until Dawn”

This week I had a talk with one of my daughters about Brazilian Ju Jitsu.  She and her partner practice this martial art, and I have seen them come home with bruises and scratches.  Although it is considered to be one of the safest of self-defence disciplines, I wanted to understand how my petite daughter wrestles with an opponent without hurting herself (or the other).  What I learned gave me a glimpse of insight into the story of another wrestling story: that of Jacob and the stranger in Genesis chapter 32.

The Brazilian form of Ju Jitsu was adapted by followers of a Japanese martial arts master, but changed in focus.  It is based on close grappling and ground fighting and uses what are called submission holds to gain a dominant position of one over the other, who then “taps out” to show concession.  The idea is that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend by using leverage and weight distribution rather than brute strength.  A bit of a David vs. Goliath scenario or, if you think on our Hebrew Scriptures reading, Jacob vs. the stranger.

Faith is shown to be an intimate grappling that is physical, emotional, and spiritual.  Jacob wrestles with the hidden.  He, and we, never know who the stranger is, or get a name to put to the night-time apparition.  Is it an angel?  A nightmare?  God in human form? In the encounter Jacob touches and experiences a real presence.  Afterward, he exclaims that he has seen the face of God, and names the place of the encounter ‘Peni-el’.  (Remember how after his previous dream he named that holy place ‘Beth-el’, the House of God.  Now he comes not just to the home of the holy, but into his embrace). 

Yet the encounter is a conflict, not a warm dialogue.  Jacob has come to this night already struggling with the decisions of his life.  He is very much the trickster, the grabber.  He has already tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright, his father Isaac out of the blessing meant for his elder child, and his uncle Laban out of both treasures and livestock.  Now he is moving towards what will be a showdown with his twin.  In preparation, Jacob has sent ahead his family and flocks, with gifts to appease his estranged brother.  He remains alone by the side of the river Jabbok.  Should he try to reconcile, or run away?  His inner struggle gets magnified by an outer contesting.  A man comes and wrestles with him through the dark hours.

The struggle is described as wrestling.  Not a hands-off fight with weapons or allies.  This is close and sweaty work.  Jacob can feel his muscles strain and the hands slipping as he tries to grab a hold and turn it to his advantage.  But his opponent is bigger, stronger, and relentless. The stranger will not let him go and will not give up.  Jacob cannot overcome the other relying on his own strength.  But the other holds back.  In Brazilian Ju Jitsu this is known as a non-resisting partner.  Teachers use only as much power as needed to block the other, and offer opportunities for their student to practice new techniques and develop skill.  Only at the end of the bout will the teacher use a hold that demands a submission: either a joint lock or a choke.  And the smart student, at that point, accepts the superiority of the teacher gracefully, and taps to show he understands.

Jacob wrestles with the stranger until dawn.  He refuses to submit, even though he cannot prevail.  Has he learnt anything through the encounter?  Finally the stranger strikes Jacob on the hip socket (not touches like some translations have).  Jacob fights past the point of joint lock and as a consequence, dislocates his own hip.  The stranger then tells Jacob to let him go; the struggle has to conclude now in the light of the new day.  The teaching is done.  Can the student recognize the lesson?

He asks for a blessing to come out of this encounter.  Instead, the man asks him, “What is your name?”  Does Jacob, the trickster, understand who he truly is? “I am Jacob, the grabber” he admits.  “Ah”, responds the stranger, “you shall no longer be called the Grabber but Israel, the one who strives with God and is able to endure”.  It dawns on Jacob that by this blessing, the stranger who has striven with him might be Divine.  “Please, tell me your name.”  But the stranger declines.  It is for Jacob to figure out by his struggle who he has come face to face with.  The limp is a reminder for the rest of his days of the cost of resisting.  The name is a reminder that the struggle and the learning is worth the cost.  Jacob has awakened to a new day and new possibilities. 

Of course, it would be too much to expect that he changes completely, even after this mysterious and divine meeting on the banks of the Jabbok.  But he does find the courage to go forward to meet his brother.  He even finds a little humility in seeking forgiveness.  But the inner struggles with identity and faith are life-long.  He does not make it easy for God to love him and keep the promises that came through his grandfather Abraham.  And as we shall see, his children don’t turn out to be the most functional family either.  But doesn’t that sound like the rest of us?

We have our own struggles with pain, grief, despair, and conflict.  We too have spent nights awake and wrestling with our fears and decisions.  Perhaps we cannot even name the thing that keeps us anxiously awake.  But in the midst of the darkness there is a Presence that is with us.  Sometimes it is in opposition, sometimes in embrace: never letting us go until we can see the dawn of a possibility. Even if it is one we don’t want to face.  Faith is a commitment to staying in the struggle and trusting that whatever the morning brings, we will be held by God.  Amen.