| June 27
- June 27, 2010
Our scripture lesson today is about an Old Testament baby boomer, born to privilege, with every advantage you can imagine. Destined to be “most likely to succeed.” He had so much going for him, and did so little with it. And then others are the opposite, born to nothing, yet rise above their environment to achieve great success. So it’s not how we begin, but how we end, that makes the difference in this world ... and the next.
Samson was a he-man with a she-weakness; a freedom fighter, troublemaker, and a miscreant whose life was dedicated to God before he was born. His story is one of the most baffling in the Bible. But it shouldn’t be hard for us to understand, because it’s one for our times. Put him in a pair of Dockers, a BMW, and a downtown condo and he’d fit right in. He looked out for #1; was purely materialistic; he wouldn’t give anything of himself, unless he got something in return. Jay Leno would crack jokes about him. Kids would hang his posters on their walls. A rap song about his affair with Delilah could be heard booming at red lights. More than any other biblical character I can think of, Samson should’ve been born about 3000 years later.
In 1979, 41 whales were beached on the Oregon coast. They came in too close and the tide went out and they got stuck in the sand. Before they could be moved, all the whales died. The mystery was solved when a marine biologist discovered what drew the whales in was a sardine run. A sardine is this big and a whale is big as this church! But even a tiny sardine can bring down a massive mammal, if it keeps chasing them too long. That’s a parable of Samson. A man of enormous resources who indulged his promising life chasing selfish goals. He had a heart of iron, but feet of clay -- like a whale chasing sardines!
Interestingly, his name means "sunshine." And because he was born during some of the darkest days of Israel’s history, God needed a deliverer to lead his people out of the gloom and into the light. Instead, Samson only made life more gloomier. He was gifted with great strength from the Lord, beyond that of normal men. Legends abound about him wrestling a lion, slaying an entire army with a jawbone of a mule, and destroying a pagan temple with his bare hands. Maybe he looked like “Ahnold,” but Delilah had to ask him the “secret” of his strength. So apparently it wasn't obvious. The Bible says it was supernatural strength: the 'Spirit of the Lord had come upon him.' This made him a bundle of potential – strong in body, with a sharp wit to boot. But Samson never learned the distinction between being empowered by the Spirit, and controlled by it.
His biggest problem was he couldn’t get himself off his hands. Bold before men, weak before women. He was tight with God, but lived for the appetites of the flesh. Intended to liberate the Hebrews from the enemies of God, Samson had his own agenda. He’d rather fraternize with the Philistines. More interested in girls than God; too busy partying to serve his country. He fought the Lord's battles by day, and broke the Lord's commandments by night. There is irony in “Sunshine,” which speaks of brilliant light; yet he threw away his hopeful life, choosing the darkness, with his eyes poked out. Samson was blind long before he couldn’t see.
He was a bristling bundle of contradictions; a charismatic leader, with no common sense. His feats were legendary, but so were his flaws. His natural abilities allowed him at times to soar to incredible heights. But other times he sunk to improbable depths. His parents raised him the right way, but he dishonored them. Thumbing his nose at their religion, rejecting their wisdom, and died young! He should’ve been a devout man of God but wasn’t.
He shouldn’t have been mentioned in the “hall of fame” chapter in Hebrews 11, but he was -- right along with Abraham and Moses and those other biblical stalwarts. Because he was a hero who ended up a zero, paying a high price for his low living, as do those who act like him. He broke his Nazarite vow and suffered severe consequences for hanging with the wrong crowd. When we stay out late ... what do we think? We’re gonna miss something? In the wee hours of the morning, doing stuff we aren’t supposed to be doing, with people we have no business doing it with, bad things happen. It’s as predictable as the sunrise.
Samson thought he could get away with flirting with sin, and before he knew it, he found himself on a slippery slope, doing something he wished he hadn’t done -- and was helpless to undo. Sinning in high gear! The deeper you descend into sin, the blinder you become. The more you toy-around with temptation, the more you’re hooked. When you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned! Ah but he thought he was the exception. Don’t we all? There are no exceptions.
Samson underestimated the people who wanted to do him harm. God gives us the natural abilities to bless others, not to prostitute ourselves or use them for the wrong purposes. He learned the hard way that sin takes you farther than you want to go; keeps you longer than you intended to stay; and costs you more than you planned to pay! Hanging around “friends in low places” has a blinding, numbing, destructive effect. Especially when you go off “looking for love in all the wrong places.”
Samson’s downfall came from a woman. It’s not the first time nor will it be the last, when a powerful man is brought low by a beautiful lady. He finds himself sitting in Delilah's hair salon, and she’s trying to learn the secret of his strength. He teases her, leading her on, making her think she has it, only to find out she doesn’t. This man who could stand alone before powerful armies, crumbled before a woman’s fake tears. Finally, he caved-in and told her the truth.
He’s gotta be the dumbest guy in the Bible! Like Gen. McChrystal granting an interview with “Rolling Stone magazine,” which got him fired. After Delilah got Samson drunk, she cut his hair, and this time he crossed the rubicon, and there’s no going back. Only further down. And here is the saddest part ... Samson lost the power bestowed upon him by God, and didn't even know it! So out of it; drugged and unprepared. He learned the hard way that ignoring God too long, can lead to losing God forever. Given every opportunity to enjoy the favor of God, he only brought the judgment of God upon himself. He was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
But how did one with so much promise wind up such a loser? For one thing, he callously gave away the secret of his strength to someone who was handsomely paid to use it against him. There are always people out there who’ll jockey to gain advantage, to get even with us over some slight. That’s why Jesus said to be “wise as serpents but harmless as doves,” combining opposites, gaining the strength of both.
One of the lessons of this playboy’s life is to give your life away. Don’t throw it away. The consequences of wasting your life in sin are final. It not only blinds us, it binds us and grinds us! Samson lost his vision, his vitality, his vanity. In humiliation, he’s forced to do women’s work, “grinding corn,” as a sign of his weakness. Only after he sank to the bottom of the barrel, did Samson try to make amends – after it was too late to salvage much of anything God could use for good. By that time, Samson’s only option was more destruction, including himself.
Samson became a “man of prayer,” when he wanted something! His last one is revealing I think. It’s a petition for power based on hate, to get revenge: “Please God, restore my strength one more time, so that I may give these dogs a taste of their own medicine.” In the twinkle of an eye, 3,000 people go out to meet their Maker! And there in the midst of the rubble lies the dead body of Samson. And the Bible says, “He killed more in his death than he did in his life."(16:30) That’s about the best we can say about Samson.
Think of what God could’ve done if Samson had used his strength the right way! But he never learned his lesson, to his dying day. God wanted him to be a champion not a Casanova! Born to bless and lavishly gifted by God with more than enough ability to do so, he could’ve given his life for the people of God. But Samson, who had it all, chose instead to throw it all away! I like this story, because it gives hope for people like us, who have blown it too. I see so many who’ve labored under a long string of bad decisions, blind alleys, broken relationships. All I can do as a preacher is to warn you and beg you: don’t throw your life away the pursuit of trifles!
Instead, I would point you to God’s “pride & joy,” who also had a famous “dying prayer.” I hold before all of us – Jesus, because he did give his life away! Nobody took it from him. He freely gave it, and in the process even prayed for his enemies! “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” The sin of unawareness can wreak terrible consequences. But there’s always hope for those who have the courage to give their lives away. Because God would rather forgive than judge. God would rather bless than turn us over to our self-destructive ways. But if we insist on living out on the edge of selfish passion, testing God’s judgment – he will let us do that. So take a good long look at Mr. Sunshine, whose life verifies the truth, we will “reap what we sow.” “Sow to the wind, reap the whirlwind!” The challenge before us today is the same as Samson's -- to move beyond the limitations we impose upon ourselves by trying to be a world unto ourselves. Give your life away. Don’t throw it away.
Providence Prayers: June 27, 2010
Help us not to just be receivers but givers of Thy blessings. Sensitize us to those in need of the forgiveness that we too have received. Give us the good grace to extend it not only to those who are indifferent, but those who are different, including those who don’t want it. Help us to discover gifts we never knew we had and to use them on behalf of people we never knew were there: the grieving, the afflicted, the oppressed, the despondent. Deliver us from the paternalism that prompts us to think less of others, or the individualism that never lets us think of others at all.
Show us it’s not shameful to be weak; show us also that true strength need not be arrogance if we use our strength to bless others, not for selfish purposes. Let that be our standard as a church. May Thy Spirit fill this body of believers so that when one of us rejoices, we all rejoice; when one of us suffers, we all suffer. Grant us the grace to allow others to be who they are without exacting from them a price because we’re threatened by their freedom. “For if we live, we live unto the Lord. And if we die, we die unto the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Through Christ our Lord. Amen. |
