Genesis 32.22-31

22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ 27 So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ 28 Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ 29 Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

 

REFLECTION 

This is an interesting reading. Some for words. Jacob is heading back to the land of his father and to his brother Esau. The last he saw of Esau was when he took the blessing and his mother told him to run because she feared Esau would kill him. Jacob returns fearful of his brother and as he gets close he decides to send all he has before him to see his brother's reaction. He waits till dawn to set off. While alone he wrestles with a man, no name or  clue as to his being, ie human or angel or God. It is hard to believe that if the being was devine that Jacob could have beaten him. The being needs the fight to stop because of the coming dawn, why? Jacob must love blessings because he refuses to let the being go without a blessing. In this blessing Jacob is given another name because of his struggles with humans, father, brother, uncle and with God. Is this a reference to the fight Jacob has just had? We see that Jacob has prevailed in is struggles. Jacob asks the beings name and he is asked why he needs to know. Then he is blessed. The name was not the blessing? His naming of the place reflects that for Jacob this being was God. Jacob feared his brother and the interaction, but did not fear God, is that not interesting.  

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Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills:

but where shall I find help?

2 My help comes from the Lord:

who has made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer your foot to stumble:

and he who watches over you will not sleep.

4 Be sure he who has charge of Israel:

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord himself is your keeper:

the Lord is your defence upon your right hand;

6 The sun shall not strike you by day:

nor shall the moon by night.

7 The Lord will defend you from all evil:

it is he who will guard your life.

8 The Lord will defend your going out and your coming in:

from this time forward for evermore.

 

 

2 Timothy 3.10-4.5

10 Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

 

REFLECTION

Paul must have feared Timothy would lose confidence in his ministry because he reminds him of the example he has seen in Paul and the working of God in the hardship. He does not offer Timothy, or any believer, an easy life, but tells him honestly that he will be persecuted. I am not sure I want to be persecuted. When he refers to the sacred writing, I wonder what he was referring too, because the New Testament did not yet exist. I believe he was referring to the Jewish scriptures, TANAK, Midrash. The way was still strongly connected to the spirituality of the Jewish faith. Paul prophecies the time when people will turn away from the truth and seek that which pleases their ears and life style. How can we tell if we are still standing in the truth, or that we are just looking for what pleases our ears and hearts? Paul did not fight with God, but with society. He believed in the message he shared and suffered all things for it. 

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Luke 18.1-14

1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” ’ 6 And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” 13 But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

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REFLECTION

​In todays parable Jesus compares the Justice of an unjust judge with the Justice of God. If an unjust judge will give justice because of the persistence of the just, then we should expect our just prayers to be answered. I believe it is important to note two things. The first is that the woman's request was for justice for a situation where she had been wronged. The second shows us that this justice was so important that she kept asking till she got it. We may pray for many things, but how important is it to us? What would we do to have our prayer answered? Jesus says, '7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?' I don't know that I pray night and day for things and I don't know that I would fast or suffer for a prayer. Jesus then adds a question to the story, 'And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’' I believe he is referring to the attitude needed to pray as he has defined. the woman believed she could get justice, she had faith in the unjust judge and she fought to get it. Do we have faith in God?

It seems like we move to a different issue about those who believe in their own self-righteousness and how they treat others. We see two men, one living a moral life and the other who has chosen to serve Rome and collect taxes from his own people but is repentant. If it was that bad, why did he do it?  The way they have chosen to live their lives has affected the way they see themselves and in the first man's case given permission to judge, the other's choices have led him to humility. The first does not need God's grace or love, the second does. Both pray, but one boasts while the other pleads. Though this reading may look different to the first part, it is about how we approach prayer, a fight for justice and healing.

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