Struggle and Transformation
PROPER 13 – 2014 – YEAR A – Trinity 7
One of the subjects that I enjoyed studying at school was history. The history of any country or society is a combination of an account of a sequence of events and a reflection on the people and events that shaped those events. Whenever the history of a nation comes to be written, certain individuals stand out as crucial.
In the context of Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, we recall events that shaped the history of Ireland North and South, and the people who shaped these events, such as Dillon, Pearse, Childers, Casement, Carson, Collins, De Valera, Craig. These individuals embody the communities from which they arose, articulating the hopes and fears of those communities.
In our Old Testament Lessons, we have been following the Genesis accounts of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These figures stand at the heart of the emergence of the people of Israel. As followers of Christ, this is part of our story, part of our heritage.
The biblical history transcends history, with issues that speak to each succeeding generation. We find Jacob and his family encamped near the ford at Jabbock. In the stillness of the desert night, he struggles with a man all night, which is a struggle with God. This struggle marked a turning point in the life of Jacob before God.
When the sun rose on Jacob that morning, it rose upon a different, more chastened man. He went on as Israel, one who recognized that he had been in the very presence of God, to fulfill the task to which God had called him.
There is something timeless about the struggle within us. It recurs generation after generation in the hearts and minds of men and nations. Each of us must come face to face with the conflict within. God brings us face to face with ourselves, which can be a life-changing experience.
God was with Jacob that night and blessed him as he struggled. He was with him as he traveled to be reconciled with his brother Esau. God is with us as we wrestle with the contradictions in our own lives and personalities as we seek a way forward. That way forward is found in affirming that which is noble and well pleasing to God and putting behind us that which is wrong.
As we have followed the story of the Patriarchs, we see not only their impact on the history of the people of God; we also see in their lives, in the highs and lows of their walk with God, something of our own pilgrimage. As we come to see God working in their lives, in all their contradictions and fragile humanity, for the advancement of his Kingdom, so may we come to see God’s call on our own lives and, offering ourselves as we are, go forward in his presence and in his power to live and work for him in whatever situation we find ourselves.