Genesis 27:18-19a
Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn…
In the film “The Bourne Identity” a man is found floating on the open sea. His body is hauled onto the ship and then it turns out the man is still alive. However, he does not remember who he is or what happened to him. He asks “who am I?” continually and in the rest of the film and its sequels we see him discovering his identity.
Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau”. He did not suffer from amnesia like Jason Bourne did, yet in the sequels to this chapter we see that Jacob has no healthy sense of identity. He is willing to assume someone else’s identity and to lie about his own. He is continually on the run. First from his brother, then from his uncle, but ultimately from himself.
It all comes to a culmination in chapter 32, when he struggles with God and where he finally gets a God given identity.
Genesis 32:27-28a
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel…
Jacob was happy to be Esau because he never accepted his own identity. Maybe he was jealous of his brother, maybe he was just young. His life is a mess until he finally comes to understand who he really is and who God has made him to be.
Whatever your background, whatever your name, know that God is giving you a new name, a new chapter, a new day. Yes, a whole new book will be opened when you start living in that new identity.
He has your back, He will save you, He will bring you to a new place with a new name. Everything is different when God calls you who you are.
“You will no longer be Simon, but Peter, and on this rock…”
So who are you?