Rules Fer Wrasslin'
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Rules fer Wrasslin' " by Frank Ramirez
"Blessed and Broke" by John Fitzgerald
* * * * * * *
Rules Fer Wrasslin'
by Frank Ramirez
Genesis 32:22-31
And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
-- Genesis 32:24
There's a little scrap of papyrus written in Greek words from the second century AD. Discovered over a century ago in the Egyptian desert, it measures around five and a half by seven inches. There are holes here and there, but the translation, as near as it can be figured, goes something like this:
Throw back your challenger and wrestle... with your right hand... toss, roll, and suddenly throw into a different position and wrestle... toss... your foot... the hand, squeeze and wrestle... with your right hand then change positions... by the beard... and with the other alongside the middle of the head with the right hand, wrestle around and with your hand bend it back. Cross and wrestle. Bend him backward with your right hand which you use to bend back and surprise him around the ribs and throw your honorable opponent. Throw off your honorable opponent, shifting his hand. Wrestle! Be quick. Use both hands. Wrestle. Throw your foot. Squeeze him. Bend him back. Bend his fingers upward and his... throw against...1
That's all there is, but you get the idea. It's a scrap from a second-century wrestling manual to be used to help coaches instruct athletes. Now here's what I want you to keep in mind. When this was written, wrestling had already been an Olympic sport -- for 900 years!
It wasn't long ago that the International Olympic Committee announced that it was eliminating wrestling as an Olympic sport. At that time some television commentators pointed out that wrestling had been part of the Olympics since 1896.
Ah, actually, wrestling has been part of the Olympics since 706 BC. That works out to around 2,830 years!
Fortunately the committee came to its senses and reinstated wrestling. Perhaps they recognized its ancient lineage.
Ancient wrestling was a lot like the modern sport. One difference: no kicking or hitting, no eye-gouging or biting was permitted. Infractions could lead to an immediate whipping!
There was another minor difference to modern wrestling: You were allowed to bend your opponent's fingers backward! Oh and since contestants battled in the altogether you weren't allowed to grab the man zone either.
The winner was the first to accumulate three points as a result of forcing the opponent's hip, shoulder, or back to the ground or if the opponent surrendered.
There were legendary wrestlers back then -- Milo of Croton for instance once won a tournament because all his opponents forfeited. He triumphed at five straight Olympics from 532 to 516 BC.
Then there was Nicophon, who was nicknamed the Milesian Giant, and of whom it was said, after he won at the games in 8 BC, "Not even Olympian Zeus watched without trembling."
There is nothing more fundamental than a one-on-one match in which nothing takes the place of strength, leverage, strategy, endurance, and smarts. You can't run away or hide behind a more talented teammate.
In today's scripture selection from the Old Testament, Jacob has managed to outmaneuver, outsmart, outtalk, and outwit everyone who has stood in his way. But in this mysterious passage Jacob can't rely on all the talents and strategies that have helped him avoid dealing with his past or his own usurping personality. On the night before he must deal with his long estranged brother, he finds himself face-to-face with a figure described simply as "a man." No running, jumping, throwing, or flinging is involved. The two wrestle, one on one, without a coach and presumably without instruction or rules. Jacob's life will be changed forever, and for the better.
_________
1. Translation of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus III 466 by Frank Ramirez.
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
Blessed and Broken
by John Fitzgerald
Matthew 14:13-21
The poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:
And so, I find it well to come
... to this still room.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
In the hurried, flurried world of twenty-first-century America we forget the stillness of God to which Whittier's poem beckons us. Yet, it is in this hushed waiting for the Lord's presence that we can make ourselves available to a power greater than us.
It is in this time of praying for God's Spirit that many of the miracles recorded in scripture have their beginning. Our Bible lesson from Matthew 14 directs us toward this recognition. The passage begins with "When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place."
The Lord made a conscious decision to remove himself from daily demands in order to have a direct conversation with his heavenly Father. It is in this time of dialogue that Jesus received the power to perform one of the greatest of all miracles.
What happens after this time of holy waiting for our Lord is the miracle performed of feeding 5,000 people with a small amount of loaves and fishes. This is among the most familiar of all gospel accounts. If you were to ask the average person to name a biblical miracle I feel confident this reading from Matthew 14 would be in a top five response.
So dramatic is this miracle that its discovery is made in all four gospels (Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-13). The lasting effect of this event is evident in that it is repeated in slightly different form in Matthew's gospel (Matthew 15:32-39). Clearly this miraculous activity described is intended for all generations to interact with.
Along with the power of God that came upon Jesus through his time spent in solitary, there are two details of this story which are important for us to notice. Verse 19 tells us that as Jesus shared loaves and fishes he blessed and broke them into pieces. The reading from this verse is: "And he (Jesus) directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people."
Our Lord blessed the food to be shared with masses of people and then he broke it into pieces. Blessing and brokenness are two keys to understanding this tremendous miracle.
Wonder working power of God flows out of being in touch with divine blessing. When we are open to the majesty, glory, and authority of our maker and Creator than good things can happen. God can use us to be an agent for his divine favor.
Unfortunately, most of us are not in tune with the Holy Spirit. We are subject only to an agenda created by us. Our prayer life becomes one of pouring out only personal needs and pleas without any awareness that God might have something else in mind besides the details of daily living.
This is why the example of Jesus spending time in solitude is so vital. In these holy moments, our Lord moved beyond the realm of only personal need and entered into the Father's plan. The heavenly Father prepared his Son to be an agent of divine blessing in sharing food with 5,000 people.
God desires us to experience blessing, but it cannot be accomplished when filled with our desires. The Holy Spirit will not move in someone who is not open to divine transformation.
Blessing occurs most often when there is brokenness within our being. Jesus had to break fishes and loaves in order to distribute them. Christ seeks to break down our proud hearts and stubborn minds.
The majority of Christians living in America maintain willful disobedience to teachings of scripture. We know what the Bible teaches and yet there is a yearning to do it our way. Jesus wants to break this habit of making God's law fit into our sinful lifestyles and attitudes.
If we want to be part of mighty works of God it starts with broken and repentant hearts. Jesus will not use an instrument of personal pride. All glory belongs to the Father.
Blessing and brokenness which emerge from time spent with God are essentials in gaining meaning from our scripture lesson. Words from the poet are a good starting place in helping us put it into practice:
And so, I find it well to come
... to this still room.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 3, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Rules fer Wrasslin' " by Frank Ramirez
"Blessed and Broke" by John Fitzgerald
* * * * * * *
Rules Fer Wrasslin'
by Frank Ramirez
Genesis 32:22-31
And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
-- Genesis 32:24
There's a little scrap of papyrus written in Greek words from the second century AD. Discovered over a century ago in the Egyptian desert, it measures around five and a half by seven inches. There are holes here and there, but the translation, as near as it can be figured, goes something like this:
Throw back your challenger and wrestle... with your right hand... toss, roll, and suddenly throw into a different position and wrestle... toss... your foot... the hand, squeeze and wrestle... with your right hand then change positions... by the beard... and with the other alongside the middle of the head with the right hand, wrestle around and with your hand bend it back. Cross and wrestle. Bend him backward with your right hand which you use to bend back and surprise him around the ribs and throw your honorable opponent. Throw off your honorable opponent, shifting his hand. Wrestle! Be quick. Use both hands. Wrestle. Throw your foot. Squeeze him. Bend him back. Bend his fingers upward and his... throw against...1
That's all there is, but you get the idea. It's a scrap from a second-century wrestling manual to be used to help coaches instruct athletes. Now here's what I want you to keep in mind. When this was written, wrestling had already been an Olympic sport -- for 900 years!
It wasn't long ago that the International Olympic Committee announced that it was eliminating wrestling as an Olympic sport. At that time some television commentators pointed out that wrestling had been part of the Olympics since 1896.
Ah, actually, wrestling has been part of the Olympics since 706 BC. That works out to around 2,830 years!
Fortunately the committee came to its senses and reinstated wrestling. Perhaps they recognized its ancient lineage.
Ancient wrestling was a lot like the modern sport. One difference: no kicking or hitting, no eye-gouging or biting was permitted. Infractions could lead to an immediate whipping!
There was another minor difference to modern wrestling: You were allowed to bend your opponent's fingers backward! Oh and since contestants battled in the altogether you weren't allowed to grab the man zone either.
The winner was the first to accumulate three points as a result of forcing the opponent's hip, shoulder, or back to the ground or if the opponent surrendered.
There were legendary wrestlers back then -- Milo of Croton for instance once won a tournament because all his opponents forfeited. He triumphed at five straight Olympics from 532 to 516 BC.
Then there was Nicophon, who was nicknamed the Milesian Giant, and of whom it was said, after he won at the games in 8 BC, "Not even Olympian Zeus watched without trembling."
There is nothing more fundamental than a one-on-one match in which nothing takes the place of strength, leverage, strategy, endurance, and smarts. You can't run away or hide behind a more talented teammate.
In today's scripture selection from the Old Testament, Jacob has managed to outmaneuver, outsmart, outtalk, and outwit everyone who has stood in his way. But in this mysterious passage Jacob can't rely on all the talents and strategies that have helped him avoid dealing with his past or his own usurping personality. On the night before he must deal with his long estranged brother, he finds himself face-to-face with a figure described simply as "a man." No running, jumping, throwing, or flinging is involved. The two wrestle, one on one, without a coach and presumably without instruction or rules. Jacob's life will be changed forever, and for the better.
_________
1. Translation of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus III 466 by Frank Ramirez.
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
Blessed and Broken
by John Fitzgerald
Matthew 14:13-21
The poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:
And so, I find it well to come
... to this still room.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
In the hurried, flurried world of twenty-first-century America we forget the stillness of God to which Whittier's poem beckons us. Yet, it is in this hushed waiting for the Lord's presence that we can make ourselves available to a power greater than us.
It is in this time of praying for God's Spirit that many of the miracles recorded in scripture have their beginning. Our Bible lesson from Matthew 14 directs us toward this recognition. The passage begins with "When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place."
The Lord made a conscious decision to remove himself from daily demands in order to have a direct conversation with his heavenly Father. It is in this time of dialogue that Jesus received the power to perform one of the greatest of all miracles.
What happens after this time of holy waiting for our Lord is the miracle performed of feeding 5,000 people with a small amount of loaves and fishes. This is among the most familiar of all gospel accounts. If you were to ask the average person to name a biblical miracle I feel confident this reading from Matthew 14 would be in a top five response.
So dramatic is this miracle that its discovery is made in all four gospels (Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-13). The lasting effect of this event is evident in that it is repeated in slightly different form in Matthew's gospel (Matthew 15:32-39). Clearly this miraculous activity described is intended for all generations to interact with.
Along with the power of God that came upon Jesus through his time spent in solitary, there are two details of this story which are important for us to notice. Verse 19 tells us that as Jesus shared loaves and fishes he blessed and broke them into pieces. The reading from this verse is: "And he (Jesus) directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people."
Our Lord blessed the food to be shared with masses of people and then he broke it into pieces. Blessing and brokenness are two keys to understanding this tremendous miracle.
Wonder working power of God flows out of being in touch with divine blessing. When we are open to the majesty, glory, and authority of our maker and Creator than good things can happen. God can use us to be an agent for his divine favor.
Unfortunately, most of us are not in tune with the Holy Spirit. We are subject only to an agenda created by us. Our prayer life becomes one of pouring out only personal needs and pleas without any awareness that God might have something else in mind besides the details of daily living.
This is why the example of Jesus spending time in solitude is so vital. In these holy moments, our Lord moved beyond the realm of only personal need and entered into the Father's plan. The heavenly Father prepared his Son to be an agent of divine blessing in sharing food with 5,000 people.
God desires us to experience blessing, but it cannot be accomplished when filled with our desires. The Holy Spirit will not move in someone who is not open to divine transformation.
Blessing occurs most often when there is brokenness within our being. Jesus had to break fishes and loaves in order to distribute them. Christ seeks to break down our proud hearts and stubborn minds.
The majority of Christians living in America maintain willful disobedience to teachings of scripture. We know what the Bible teaches and yet there is a yearning to do it our way. Jesus wants to break this habit of making God's law fit into our sinful lifestyles and attitudes.
If we want to be part of mighty works of God it starts with broken and repentant hearts. Jesus will not use an instrument of personal pride. All glory belongs to the Father.
Blessing and brokenness which emerge from time spent with God are essentials in gaining meaning from our scripture lesson. Words from the poet are a good starting place in helping us put it into practice:
And so, I find it well to come
... to this still room.
The world that time and sense have known
Falls off and leaves us God alone.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 3, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
