Scripture: Genesis 32:22-31; Matthew 14:13-21
Preached on Jacob wrestling the angel at the Jabbok (paired with the feeding of the 5,000), the sermon draws on Wilson’s own experience training Brazilian jiu-jitsu to argue that Jacob’s ‘technique’ was not skill or strength but sheer refusal to let go. Woven throughout are stanzas of Charles Wesley’s hymn ‘Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown,’ reframing the whole life of faith as an ongoing wrestling match with God in which holding on — not winning, not mastering technique — is the point, and even that capacity to hold on is itself a gift of the Spirit’s presence. The angel’s inexplicable ‘thigh lock’ becomes an image of encountering the truly supernatural at the point of human limitation, where surrender opens into grace, echoed in the sending toward Communion.
Illustrations: ukulele-rear-naked-choke-intro, bjj-judo-history, royce-gracie-first-ufc, failing-for-a-long-time, judo-samurai-peacemaking, jack-reacher-sized-opponent, wesley-wrestling-jacob-hymn, no-rocky-montage, jesus-gethsemane-wrestling, woman-clings-to-jesus, boy-loaves-and-fishes, angels-thigh-lock
August 2, 2026
Ordinary Time
Genesis 32:22-31 Matthew 14:13-21
Genesis 32:22-31
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. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 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.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 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. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
A Ukulele and a Rear Naked Choke
Before we arrived at Covenant a few years ago, I made a little video on a ukulele that some of you may remember. And if you never saw it, I can share it again on our Facebook page. It was a way to just introduce myself and my family. One of the things I mentioned was how my family practices this strange martial art called Brazilian jiu-jitsu — and all of us can do a rear naked choke.
And I mean, we still do, but to various degrees of interest. It’s more of a discipline than a pastime — showing up when we can. And some days you feel great, you do great, and some days you don’t and you just get smashed and you start again afresh. And even when people are smashing your face in, they want the best for you.
It’s a strange, strange environment.
Where It Came From
So if you don’t know any of it — Brazilian jiu-jitsu is this martial art that’s kind of an adaptation of judo, which came to Brazil in the early 20th century, especially in the ports of northern Brazil. It was adapted by a number of Brazilians who had some other folk martial arts, mixed them together, and really focused especially on the ground. That so much of a fight starts when you’re standing but finishes on the ground. So what if you make a dominant ground game, a dominant position?
It became popular in the United States especially, and in many parts of the world, in the ’90s in the first UFC event — the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The first one had these big wrestlers and brawlers and boxers and karate and things like that — and it was won by this kind of older Brazilian dude in a gi, Royce Gracie. He looked like he was wearing pajamas.
He wasn’t even the best fighter in his family. He was the one who showed up.
He was the one who showed up, and he won by this weird stuff on the ground.
Failing for a Long Time
When I first started, I was the last one in my family. I was pretty freaked out and scared. And one of the humbling aspects of it was realizing — okay, once I do this, once I step out, that means I am going to be failing for a long time before I get any traction.
It’s incredibly humbling. Like the first time somebody does something to you and it’s like magic. Like, how did they— wait, how do you have an armbar? Where’d that come from? How are you choking me?
Training jiu-jitsu helped me to understand judo in the Olympics and wrestling much better — understanding the tactics and the strategies. Judo and wrestling are both ways to get someone down to the mat. What do you do there? That is Jiu-Jitsu. Guard play, sweeps, arm bars, chokes, foot locks. And it kind of blends together in this kind of way. And what’s interesting is that it’s this puzzle, this problem-solving. It’s not violence for violence’s sake.
The history of judo is very interesting in this peacemaking way. When Japan opened up and the Tokugawa period ended in the mid-19th century, suddenly there’s all these samurai that all their life has been about war, and their way of life is gone. And judo kind of emerges as this syncretistic — this mixture of a bunch of different training techniques for samurai to kind of stay in shape and not kill each other. Actually, from the beginning, it had a nonviolent core to it.
Grappling is this catch all term that covers wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, no-gi judo, catch wresling.
So What Was Jacob’s Technique?
So all of that to say is, when it comes to this passage of Genesis, what I’d never thought about before until a few weeks ago was: what is Jacob’s grappling technique?
Because there’s a lot of different techniques. Like, how— what was his training?
Now, before I had trained jiu-jitsu, I would have assumed — you know, Jacob’s not the one who went for the hunting. He’s not the burly one. He’s the one who likes to— he’s the mama’s boy. He probably wouldn’t be that good of a fighter. It comes from nowhere.
But one of the great things about jiu-jitsu is you can’t know how good somebody is unless you actually roll with them. You can’t judge them by how they look.
I know that because people can’t judge me by how I look. And that was one of the strangest realities — at one point realizing how, like, when somebody comes in and they’ve never trained before, it doesn’t matter how big and strong they are. They could be six-five, two-fifty, all muscle like Jack Reacher, and I would easily handle them.
Jacob doesn’t have to be the biggest and the strongest to dominate, or at least hold his own, against the angel.
Wrestling to a Draw
It’s such a powerful scene in Genesis. I think it’s one of my favorite passages in the entire scripture, Jacob wrestling with the angel to a draw, and how much a life of faith is like that. Charles Wesley wrote a great hymn on it.
Come, O Thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.
You know, we kind of hope and expect and like — okay, I go to church. I believe in God. I do these things. Therefore, all the struggle should be behind me. The challenges should be behind me.
I need not tell Thee who I am,
My sin and misery declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.
But they’re not. This world keeps on popping up these annoying challenges that make me question myself, question the people around me, question my ability. Sometimes even question faith. The wrestling. Would a good God do this? Why don’t I have an answer? And points in our life worth giving up can strikes us quickly. We pray and pray and do not receive the kind of response we want. We ask God for assurance and receive further doubt. We ask God for healing and receive worse news.
Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
What a line. Confident in self-despair. Or as a contemporary poet put it: all I have in life is my new appetite for failure. But that is not the end for Charles Wesley or Jesus. He goes.
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy name be Love.
Jesus Wrestles Too
We see the wrestling in Jesus. We see in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus wrestling with God. Jesus as God. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. Jesus is God. There isn’t sin in questioning. There isn’t sin in asking why. You’re not bad if you do it. There isn’t seen in being weak or struggling.
My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.
No Rocky Montage
Did Jacob train before he wrestled the angel? Is it off the page? Jacob doing his Rocky montage scene — he’s punching the sides of beef hanging in the freezer, draining the blood. He’s running up the hills. He’s eating that high-protein diet. Getting plenty of macros.
Sing the Rocky theme.
But he ultimately doesn’t need it, because Jacob’s wrestling is not about himself.
What he does is he doesn’t give up. It’s not about technique. Its really grit.
Jacob faces a challenge and doesn’t give up. He holds on, not knowing what is going to happen at the end.
In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.
What Jesus Came to Do
When Jesus is feeding the five thousand, He’s offering food to those who have come to hear him preach. He gives a tool for endurance. He does not forget about those who came to him. He does not leave them behind.
But Jesus doesn’t feed every crowd he sees. He went where he went, and not everywhere — which seems unfair to us today. Jesus didn’t heal every ailment that he came across, which seems unfair to us today.
The point of Jesus walking among us, teaching and healing, was not to take away every burden, but to reveal who God is for us.
To become a Christian, to make that decision for Jesus — however you’re able to do it — it’s not about no longer having any burdens or challenges or struggles. It’s also not about your training and technique. It’s not about how many Bible verses you memorized as a kid.
It comes down to that encounter with the divine.
Can You Hold On?
In the midst of a world which crashes into us with a cacophony of expectations, ideas, ideals, challenges, sins, joys — all of it crashing in on us — that encounter with the Divine: can you hold on?
It’s not about winning. You’re not going to dominate the angel. You’re not going to dominate this life.
Can you hold on?
And the real secret is that even in that holding on, it’s not about us. That we’re only able to hold on because God was already with us. The Holy Spirit was already present with us, and the Holy Spirit is present with those around us in our community, giving them the strength to hold on.
And what the abundant life offered by Jesus Christ is — it’s not the one free of challenges, but the one that reframes all those challenges and realizes these aren’t the things that kill the soul. I do not need to fear it. I do not need to let it control me. Then let it go.
The Ones Who Didn’t Let Go
That is Jacob’s grappling technique. He didn’t quit. He didn’t let go of God.
It’s the woman who comes up to Jesus whose child is sick. She clung to him and didn’t let go, and her daughter was healed.
The boy who offers what he has to Jesus and ends up feeding a large crowd. He did not give up. He offered what he had. That is what Jesus calls us to do. Not to give of what we don’t possess. Not to be people we can never be.
I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
To call oneself a feeble sinner seems like hater’s talk. You gotta pump yourself up. Be kind to yourself, etc.. Instead, when we face the limits of who we are and what we have done, we can step into the freedom of Christ’s mercy. Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend. We are seen and received. The grappling we have done in this world has not been in vain, even if we lost over and over again.
The angel submits Jacob in a strange way: a Thigh Lock. There isn’t a technique for that in Jiu Jitsu. I can tear a person’s knee apart with a heel hook or a knee bar. I can tear sprain their ankle with an ankle lock or rip their Achilles with a calf-slicer. I can’t do anything to the thigh. It is a truly supernatural submission.
Our bodies breakdown however old we are. These bodies which give us so much strength and confidence in different seasons, also offer the clearest reminder of our weakness and limitation. We can defend against any attack, and then someone pulls out a supernatural thigh lock and we lose. But in that loss is our gain.
Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.
All helplessness, all weakness, I on thee alone for strength depend. The freedom offered when you release the desire to save yourself and those around you, and receive love undeserved from the Lord of all creation, who shows up in the still small places, but is always with you.
Sending
So, my brothers and sisters, as we move to a new season — as someday the heat will end — may you remember that you’re not alone.
God is there for you in the challenges, and they’re probably gonna come. They’re gonna bubble up. There’s gonna be hard stuff each of us has to face, but we’re not alone.
And it’s not always going to end up how we wanted, how we thought, how we expected, how we thought being a Christian would make us feel or do.
But we are not alone. We don’t need to give up.
‘Tis Love! ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy mercies move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.
At the Table
We’re offered life at this table.
The life Jesus offered for us, given here. The strange action of a hundred-some-odd people looking at this bread and juice and calling it the body and blood — because God is real and here for us.
Take and eat. Tase and see that the Lord is good.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.