Donald Trump Wrestles the Almighty

 

Donald Trump Wrestles the Almighty

 

Genesis 32:22-31

Jacob receives God's blessing 

 

32:22 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.

 

32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

 

32:24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

 

32:25 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.

 

32:26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."

 

32:27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

 

32:28 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."

 

32:29 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.

 

32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved."

 

32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

 

 

I had a good laugh as I read this week’s lectionary passage. Why? Because I first think of Jacob as one of the great connivers in the Bible. Jacob cons his brother out of his birthright, GETS conned by his father-in-law to be into marrying Laban’s older daughter, Leah, before prevailing and winning the hand of his beloved Rachel. Jacob seems to find a way to get what he wants, even when others become either the foil of his schemes, or even the victims of them. A sarcastic chuckle blurted out when I thought of the great provocateur of our current time—President Donald Trump—and how he, too, is a well-known conniver who will do most anything to get his way. Then, I had this wild moment of fantasy, imagining Donald Trump having a wrestling match with God (or God’s angel?), which is amplified in its humor by the fact that Trump really IS a big fan of the WWE and its “fantastic,” staged matches between the most bizarre of play-acting characters.

 

Donald Trump as a kind of modern-day Jacob is certainly a stretch, and while our Jewish siblings venerate Jacob as the “father of the tribes of Israel,” they must also admit that he is a schemer. And those of us who aren’t particularly in Donald Trump’s corner must also admit that he has successfully connived his way into the most powerful office in the land—twice—and convinced a majority of American voters—twice—to put him there. And like Jacob, he seems to have a limitless supply of energy, devious longsuffering, and chutzpah to get his way with much, some of which may not be to the betterment of his constituency. But you have to admire his pluck, even if the end results invoke a similarly rhyming word in your mind.

 

So, we have two schemers with massive egos and grandiose plans, facing a challenge that may be beyond their ability to manipulate—Jacob and Donald Trump. The Bible text says that Jacob faced his “opponent” near the shores of the Jabbok, when he found himself locked into an all-night wrestling match with “a man.” And while I’m not a Hebrew scholar, those who are tell us that this “man” was most likely a theophany—some translations say “an angel,” but if a true theophany, “the man” was actually God, making a human appearance. Putting this all together, it is humorous in its own right that Jacob could “out-wrestle” the Almighty, but this is exactly what the text says was happening! So, God pulls a Trump move on Jacob—he cheats. A divine touch to Jacob’s hip socket, and his hip is dislocated, which might have normally ended the match—kind of like we thought happened, in Donald Trump’s case, when Joe Biden defeated him in 2020. Jacob holds on to God, even with a dislocated hip that must have been excruciating, until God “blesses” him. I know it’s a weird metaphor, but this is how I see the resurgence of Donald Trump playing out. He refused to give up his desire for power and his own way, and he has prevailed once again. Although ironically, in winning his second term, it doesn’t appear that he had to cheat to do it, unless you brand his wildly fabricated stories and “analysis” of the problems facing this country a form of cheating by preying on the emotions of his listeners. Again, I’m not offering an apologetic for Donald Trump as much as I’m trying to understand how people like Jacob and Trump are able to prevail, even when they are wrestling with the likes of the Almighty?

 

Is God testing the rest of us by waving the proverbial red cape out of the way, getting the bull to charge, and stepping aside so WE are the ones now facing a raging bull? God renamed Jacob as “Israel,” a name which meant “you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” And Jacob’s sons would be the progenitors of the future people who would wear the “Israel” moniker, themselves. And is it not true that God’s people Israel have faced massive challenges—both human and divine—down through the centuries—pogroms, persecutions, holocausts—and yet have survived to this day, at least in some form? And does not the world have a love/hate relationship with the modern state of Israel, in that we stand with them and yet deride them for “overreaching,” in this case, seeking to obliterate the Palestinians in the name of “protecting their interests”? We’re back to Donald Trump again. In him, Israel has found both a friend and foe, depending on which way the wind is blowing. I admit that I am fairly impressed with the peace plan that Trump’s team has put on the table to end the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, as I mentioned in last week’s message. Its openness to a two-state solution for the Palestinians while calling for an end to terrorist attacks against Israel, as well as utilizing a United Nations-led arbitrating committee to manage the situation seems like it could work. The wide support the plan has engendered among the Arab nations may be a ray of hope. (As I am editing this message the week of 10/15, the initial plan has been signed, some hostages released, but still threats to its enaction remain.)

 

This is the “wrestling match with God” that today’s Israel must face. Might God use another conniver—President Trump—to spur an amicable solution? Or might God use him to “dislocate” Israel’s hip joint to accept and agree to a peace that is not exactly what they wanted? In reading what is truly an absurd passage from the Book of Genesis this week, I guess I should not be so swift to laugh at how God might have something up God’s sleeve that uses an absurd “catalyst” from our own time, the aforementioned Donald Trump. We can only hope that something good comes of this for all the parties involved. I wish I could be more optimistic, but our President seems to have a penchant for mucking things up just as it something is about to break, for he, too, suffers from the same kind of “paralysis by ego” that Jacob did. Both of them would certainly benefit from a wrestling match with the Almighty to have their egos knocked back a few notches, even by a God who cheats, when necessary.

 

Anyone who tries to sanitize some of these preposterous Bible stories is missing the message behind the mayhem. In this case, God is so concerned with the human creation that God is willing to “get down and get dirty” with us to prevail, whether it’s wrestling or blessing. As we mentioned last week, this is precisely what God is doing in the Christ Event, and we must admit God “cheats” there, too. God cheats DEATH, actually. Jesus was murdered by the powers that he threatened with is message of forgiveness, love, and reconciliation of all humanity. As we know, when you are murdered, you are dead. Jesus was dead, but then God cheated. And death’s hip was dislocated, permanently. Thanks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, death will not prevail.

 

As I have mentioned in other messages, too, it is important t note that Mideastern traditions are much different from ours in the West. The Bible is full of stories of unscrupulous actors being used by God (David) or even being praised by Jesus (the parable of the unjust steward, for example). We have a hard time rationalizing these with our Western ethics, but of course, those in the Mideast don’t get our “business ethics” of usury in lending and “hostile takeovers,” let alone stockholders abiding such nasty, predatory behaviors just to milk a few extra dollars out of their shares.

 

For those of us who struggle mightily with our current situation under President Trump and his “wrestling match” between wanting to earn a Nobel Peace Prize AND carrying out destructive revenge and retribution against those he perceives as his enemies, may look to this passage as a sign of hope. Israel might never have come to be, had it not been for God’s willingness to wrestle with Jacob, resulting in the change of direction necessary for its birth. Perhaps we should pray for our President to have one of those late-night divine wrestling matches in place of a tweet bomb? He already knows the “theater of war,” given his love affair with the WWE, so just maybe the Almighty can entice him into the ring? God knows our nation needs a change of direction, if IT is to survive. And we believe in a God who just won’t give up on us! Amen.