Tuesday, July 8, 2025

 

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 32:23-32; Matthew 9:32-38)

It is said that today’s first reading is open to many interpretations.  What can we make of it?  Jacob is soon to meet his brother Esau whom he tricked out of his inheritance.  Because Jacob suspects retaliation, he divides his entourage in two so that he will not lose everything to Esau.  Now he encounters the Lord in a wrestling match just as most people find him daily in a struggle of conscience.  Jacob is bothered by a whisper of guilt that he should return Esau’s birthright.  He survives the struggle and even gets the upper hand.  Jacob demands a blessing from the Lord which is given in the form of a new name.  He will be called “Israel,” which means one who has struggled with God. 

Jacob does not totally escape harm.  God strikes him on the hip causing him to limp when he finally meets Esau.  Rather than the wrath he expected, Jacob finds his brother friendly, even solicitous.  God has allowed him to keep his brother’s birthright, but the sore hip will make him wonder at times if it was worth it.

If struggling with God in our conscious means trying to justify an evil act, we should immediately cease the endeavor.  But if it is trying to interpret an ambiguous act in our favor, we may not be wrong to hold forth.  We should purify our memory by honestly and deliberately questioning what we have done.  We live to serve God, not to dictate to Him.