Lamb Chop, Wrestling Match, and Jacob's Hip

That afternoon a mother was preparing a family meal in the kitchen when her son stepped out of his room. Little did he know that in the next few minutes he will encounter a profound truth that will forever change his life.

Mom: I am preparing a special meal. It's your favorite: Lamb chop.

Boy: Nice! But mother, why do you throw away the tendon part? Isn't that the yummy bits?

Mom: Son, there is a story behind it that we as Jewish people have passed on from generations to generations.

Boy: I've got 10 minutes before the game on TV is on, mother.

Mother: Since when do you put TV after your mother? Listen now. You remember the story of your great great ancestor Jacob who wrestled with God at Pniel?

Boy: O yeah, that poor guy. He wrestled with the the Lord, and went away limped for the rest of his life.

Mom: Yes, because the Lord touched the socket of his hip. Do you know that chapter in Genesis 32 ended with this: "Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon."

Boy: Aha, so that's why we are tendon-free families.

Mom: Every time I prepare a meal for us, I am reminded of the story. Do you know what the Lord teaches us?

Boy: To never pick up a fight with someone bigger than us?

Mom: There is nothing further from the truth than what you just said. Our Lord teaches us that self-reliant, self-confident people like Jacob can never please God no matter how hard he tried.

Boy: But doesn't the Lord help those who help themselves?

Mom: No, son. Listen, many people today are quite like Jacob. Going through motions in their lives wrestling with something they thought will give them the true happiness, build their identity, and secure their worth. Jacob deceived his dad, ran away for his life from Esau who swore to kill him, deceived his uncle, worked hard to get Rachel. He did all he can to satisfy his heart only to be disappointed over and over again.

Boy: Yea, what a restless creature!

Mom: He would have lived his entire life in quiet desperation and gone to his grave with that same song had the Lord not intervened. When Jacob wrestled with the Lord, he was confronted by his sin of self-reliant. The Lord asked him "What is your name?" When he answered, "Jacob", that's his way of saying "I am a deceiver from birth, I cut corners to get the wish of my hearts using my own twisted brains. I am a sinful man."

Boy: O so that's what it means.

Mom: That's why although he was limping, he didn't let go our Lord until the Lord blesses him. The Lord did not crush Jacob with His omnipotent weight for the sinful things that Jacob did, but spared his life, blessed him, and transformed him into a new person called Israel.

Boy: Does that mean God always loves us no matter what? What about God's justice that Dad always told me about?

Mom: Glad you asked that. God was not being unjust when He did not crush the sinful Jacob. Because many centuries later on a night darker than that night at Pniel, the Lord crushed His own Son at Calvary. The prophet Isaiah wrote "he was crushed for our iniquities". He spared Jacob but did not spare His own son. Why? So that you and I who are not worthy to receive God's, who did not seek God but busy chasing after the things of the world, who in fact hated Him in the past, could and did receive His mercy and grace.

Boy: That's cool, mother. So Christ Jesus was crushed by His father so we who once were self-reliant people can be a people of God who rely on God, and live for Him in obedient gratitude.

Mom: Indeed, son, indeed!