The Transformative Power of a Name Change
What Can We Learn From Our Scripture Passage? Genesis 32: 22-32 (NRSV)
1. Jacob took care of his personal responsibilities
“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. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had” (vv. 22-23).
Jacob needed to be alone before he could take care of his personal obligations. He had a family, people that he was responsible for and to. He already sent his properties ahead to make peace with his brother Esau. However, those things he sent were things that could be replaced. He might have been upset if he lost them, but he knew that he could replace them. His family, his wives, handmaids, and children were of more value to him. So before he prepared for the work ahead, he made sure his family was safe.
2. Jacob needed to be alone
“Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (v. 24).
Jacob was alone. The practice of being alone is very difficult for people in a culture that is constantly doing—and not just being. We are always doing something that prevents us from being alone, especially in a place and a space without outside stimulation or interference. Putting aside his entire life experiences that included some very intense interactions with his family and his community, Jacob was alone. And it was in the aloneness that he had the fight of his life. He was forced in his aloneness to face the Creator of the Universe. In the quietness, the silence was deafening. In addition, in that loud quietness and in the darkness Jacob knew he faced his purpose for being.
He wrestled. He was tempted. Jacob had the knowledge of truth. He understood what he was called to do He fought the idea of the great responsibility given to him. This happened at night; there is something about darkness that creates the possibility of new birth. There is something about being alone that creates space and opportunity for new birth. It is like that moment between when a newborn baby leaves the comfort and security of the womb and enters a new world of unknown possibilities.
It is in this place that the text tells us the he wrested a man (at night) until the breaking of day.
A good wrestler doesn’t want to wrestle with someone who is not better than he or she. A good wrestler knows that to improve, the opponent has to be stronger, bigger, better, faster, more agile and will not try to hurt the adversary. A skilled wrestler will make the moves necessary to win the match—not to harm the opponent.
At night we are vulnerable because we can’t see well. We don’t feel as in control as in the light. Generally, we make decisions based on what we can see. Rarely do we make faith decisions when there is light. Sight gives us a false sense of feeling. Because we can see, we think we know, and therefore we don’t need God to help us make decisions. However, in the darkness, at night, under pressure, we tend to call on God.
3. Jacob was committed to doing whatever was necessary to accomplish his goal which meant he would hold on to the angel until he got what he wanted
“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. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me” (vv. 25-26; Note: The “hollow of the thigh” [Gen 32:25ff] is the hip-socket or the groin, the fold or hollow on either side of the front of the body where the thigh joins the abdomen. The thighs were thought to play a part in procreation [Gen 46:26; Exod 1:5], so that an oath taken with the hand under the thigh [Gen 24:2, 9; 47:29] was taken by the life-power.)
When Jacob decided to face his call, the Creator acknowledged acceptance of this task by touching Jacob. The text reads “he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained.” Oh, the power of a touch. The touch of the Creator is the most powerful touch of all. This touch was just enough to strain Jacob’s thigh.
It is perhaps significant that this oath in both Genesis 24 and 47 is said to have been exacted by persons in danger of death.
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).
These things are signified by the “hollow of Jacob‘s thigh being out of joint,” taken in the internal historical sense, which regards Jacob and his posterity.
Hold on. One must hold on long enough to receive the blessings. Part of the problem is we want a quick fix. We want something instantaneously. We don’t want to work for the blessing. We don’t want to struggle for the blessing. We don’t want to wait for the blessing. We don’t want to fight for the blessing. We want someone to give the blessing to us.
4. Jacob received a new name
“So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob’” (v. 27).
Jacob demands a blessing. Jacob has decided that he will not let go of the wrestler whose power he knows is more than his own and, the wrestler who wounds with a touch has neither destroyed nor rejected him. He may just get his blessing if he holds on long enough. The wrestler asks Jacob’s name and Jacob answers with no ancestors, clan or people. He wrestles alone, stands alone, and names only one name, “Yaaqov—Jacob—a heel.”
Then the wrestler grants him a new name: “God-wrestler–Israel.” Once again Jacob asks the name of the wrestler. Once again the wrestler refuses to answer. Now the wrestler (formally) blesses him in the text. Normally, the blessing would have been spoken. Yet the whole struggling, questioning, name-changing encounter can be read as a blessing.
Jacob finishes his night with a radically new identity, one that secures the future for his people.
5. Jacob received a blessing
“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. 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” (vv. 28-29).
6. Jacob named a place
“So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (v. 30).
7. Jacob accepted his new identity
“The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle” (vv. 31-32).
In the closing verse of the lesson, Jacob limps away from the site of his transformation. He will never be the same again. Each step he takes is marked by the divine touch.
The Psalmist said in Chapter 30 Verse 5, “weeping (pain) may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
The text says the sun rose. It was a new day. Jacob could see clearly now what he was called to do. He had the confidence, the fortitude, the affirmation he needed to face his brother and any other task he would face. The dawn had broken—like a new morning. But Jacob had a problem. After he decided not let go until he received his blessing, that dogged determination brought him a limp. The passage reads, “He touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint” so, Jacob walked with a limp.
This limp is a reminder to Jacob and to us of the dichotomy of ministry. We are called to the struggle. We are called to fight. We are called to never give up. But sometimes even in victory, it seems that we lose. In Jacobs’s case, he knew that it was his call that represented the nation of Israel. It was his call, so he was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill that cause. In the midst of this struggle, he was physically hurt. Maybe not. It seems that Jacob made a commitment to death. He would rather die than not accomplish the work that God had called him to today. He was rewarded for the commitment, not given death, only a limp.
Jacob set forth a transformational process encountered in this passage that includes 1. Taking care of personal obligations; 2. Spending time alone 3. Doing whatever it takes to complete the mission; 4. Accepting a new name; 5. Accepting a blessing; 6. Naming the place where this all happened, and 7. Accepting his new identity that included a physical impediment.
He limped from that battle with a new name, a new identity, a renewed sense of purpose, and a determination to see what the end would be.
Conclusion
Jacob’s name change was ultimately about a change of perspective and direction. It was about him fulfilling the call given to him by God.
Jacob was called to be a prophetic transformational leader, and we are called to be prophetic transformational leaders.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Do whatever it takes to put yourself in the position to move into the role of prophetic leader that you’ve been called to. This world needs prophetic leadership that will stand in the highways and byways and proclaim ‘truth.’”
Our future history is based on memories of the past.
Jacob was willing to fight for his blessings. He was willing to sacrifice for his blessings. Not only was he willing to fight and sacrifice, he was also willing to accept the consequences of that struggle. In this case it was to walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
What are you willing to struggle for? What are you willing to fight for? What are you struggling for so much so that you will accept physical consequences?
Like Jacob who had to get rid of all the trappings and distractions, we too must be willing to go into the depths and into the pits and be willing to die so that our name may be changed. We want a happy ending.
It is in the claiming or the reclaiming of the name that gives the power to the one who takes ownership of the identity. That claim allows for the freedom to be a prophetic agent. It gives us the willingness to speak truth to power. It gives the power to stand alone. The one who is willing to experience new paths, new aspects of the self not only the individual self but the community and how it might move forward into a new day. It is when an individual claims the name that one takes ownership of it.
In The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann states it is the “task of the leader to be prophetic in his or her leadership.”
I believe that the first step to becoming prophetic is to claim one’s identity over and above the identity of how society may have identified itself.
Brueggemann further states, “It is the task of the prophet to bring to expression the new realities against the more visible ones of the old order.”
I believe that can only be done when the prophet is not vested and invested in the old order. One breaks from the old order when he or she is able to claim one’s own name, one’s identity, one’s inheritance. It is in the empowerment that comes from identity, claiming one’s identity where hope abounds. One has a greater sense that there is a possibility for change, for something different.
Brueggemann states, “Egypt was without hope because it had no promise of a future.” We dare say that our children are without hope in many ways because they haven’t been given a vision of what the future might look like. In fact, they have been creating their own reality and naming their own names in a way that we may not approve.
We think it is not in their best interest but because of a lack of a prophet providing a vision—the children have taken it upon themselves to set their own future. Whether it is a hopeful or hopeless future, they have taken it upon themselves to claim their own destiny.
Too often personal narratives have been created by another and not by the one impacted by it. So part of transformation embodying a name or embracing a name brings about the investment of the one who claims his or her name.
Brueggemann makes the profound statement, “Moses was not engaged in a struggle to transform a regime rather his concern was the consciousness that undergirded and made such a regime possible.”
This is exactly what naming is about. Naming is creating a consciousness that does not allow for anything less than transformation. Change is an internal event that automatically transforms whoever, and wherever the person is.
The world that we live in requires prophetic transformational leaders that will step up and take a stand and make a difference.
What is your Name? Have you wrestled with God and declared that you will not let go until you receive the blessings that God has for you.
What is your Name? Have you claimed the new name that the Creator of Universe has promised you?
Have you made the acclamation like the Negro spirituals say, I told Jesus it would be alright if he changed my name.
Has your name been changed?
I’d like to close with a poem that summarizes the story of Jacob and his will to fight for his blessing. I suggest that we need to have the same determination as Jacob.
The Will to Win
If you want a thing bad enough
to go out and fight for it, Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and
your sleep for it
If all that you dream and scheme is about it
And life seems useless and worthless without it
If gladly you’ll sweat for it,
Fret for it, Plan for it,
Lose all your terror of the opposition for it,
If you’ll simply go after that thing that you want.
With all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity,
Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,
If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,
Nor sickness nor pain
Of body or brain
Can keep you away from the thing that you want,
If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,
with the help of God you’ll get it!
Berton Braley
