Genesis 32:25

So what does it mean, Jacob's wrestling and refusing to let go? The Lord says in the Gospel, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who act violently plunder it." This is what we were saying earlier on: struggle, wrestle, to hold on to Christ, to love your enemy. You hold Christ here and now if you have loved your enemy. And what does the Lord himself say, that is, the angel in the person of the Lord, when he had got the upper hand and was holding him fast? He has touched the hollow of his thigh, and it has withered, and so Jacob was limping. He says to Jacob, "Let me go, it is already morning." He answered, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he blessed Jacob. How? By changing his name: "You shall not be called Jacob but Israel; since you have got the upper hand with God, you shall also get the upper hand with men." That is the blessing. Look, it's a single man; in one respect he is touched and withers and in another he is blessed. This one single person in one respect has withered up and limps; in another he is blessed to give him vigor.

Jacob's withered thigh stands for bad Christians, so that we find in him blessing and limping. He is blessed with respect to those who live good lives; he limps with respect to those who live bad lives. But each kind is still included in one man. They will be separated and set apart later. This is what the church is longing for in that psalm: "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my case from an unholy people." Yes, of course, because the Gospel says, "If your foot is a scandal to you, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God having one foot, than with two feet to go to the everlasting fire." So these bad people have to be cut off in the end. For the time being the church is lame. It puts one foot down firmly; the other one, being crippled, it drags. Look at the pagans, brothers. Sometimes they find good Christians serving God, and they admire them and are attracted and believe. Sometimes they notice those who are living bad lives, and they say, "Look at these Christians!" But those who live evil lives belong to the hollow of Jacob's thigh that was touched, and they have withered. Yet the touch of the Lord is the hand of the Lord, chastising and giving life.

Believing Jews and unbelieving Jews. Where were they first condemned? In the first of them, in the father of all of them, Jacob himself, who was also called Israel. Jacob means "supplanter" or "heel"; Israel means "seeing God." When Jacob returned from Mesopotamia with his children, an angel wrestled with him, representing Christ; and while he wrestled, though the angel surpassed Jacob in strength, he still seemed to succumb to him, and Jacob to prevail. In the same sort of way the Lord Christ too succumbed to the Jews; they prevailed when they killed him. He was overcome by superior strength; precisely when he was overcome, he overcame for us. What's that—when he was overcome, he overcame for us? Yes, because when he suffered, he shed the blood with which he redeemed us.So then, that is what is written: Jacob prevailed over him. And yet Jacob himself, who was wrestling, acknowledged the mystery involved. A man, wrestling with an angel, prevailed over him; and when he said, "Let me go," the one who had prevailed said, "I am not letting you go, unless you bless me." O grand and splendid mystery! Overcome, he blesses, just as having suffered, he sets free; that is when the blessing was completed. "What are you called?" he said to him. He replied, "Jacob." "You shall not be called Jacob," he said, "but you shall be called Israel." The imposition of such a great name is a great blessing. "Israel," as I said, means "seeing God"; one man's name, everyone's reward. Everyone's, provided they believe and are blessed, Jews and Greeks. Greeks, you see, are what the apostle calls all nationalities, the reason being that the Greek language has such prestige among the nations. "Glory," he says, "and honor"—they are the apostle's words—"glory and honor and peace to everyone doing good, to Jew first and Greek; wrath and indignation, trouble and distress on every soul doing evil, to Jews first and Greeks." Good for good Jews, bad for bad ones; good for good Gentiles, bad for bad ones.