Bummer of a Birthmark -- Samson, Part 3

And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.”  And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. – Judges 15:7-8

These days the United States has to fight what are called “asymmetrical” wars.  It is somewhat confusing to call them wars at all.  These are not defined battles over land masses by uniformed combatants.  Identifying the enemy and the objective is often difficult.  The distinction between combatants and non-combatants is unclear.   The same is true with us when it comes to spiritual warfare, and Samson’s troubles with the Philistines typify our own.

Samson did not clearly understand that he was in a war.  From his perspective, he was just going about life, wanting to get married and raise a family with a little Philistine hottie.  After his disrupted wedding feast, the girl’s father had given her in marriage to another man thinking that Samson had decided she no longer pleased him.  When Samson returned for her and found out the situation had changed, he avenged himself upon the Philistines by setting fire to their grain fields and olive groves.

This was strictly a personal feud, Samson thought.  He was not striking a blow for the liberation of his nation.  He was just mad about losing his wife.  He did not consider the larger implications of his actions.  He did not see himself as leading a rebellion or harassing the enemy of his people.  His goal was vengeance, an evening of the score.  The Philistines, however, took it differently.  Upon learning that Samson – still considered the son-in-law of his former bride’s father – had perpetrated the destruction of their property, the Philistines exacted their revenge.  They put the woman and her family to death by fire.  This act led Samson to swear he would have his revenge. 

It might seem foolish to us for Samson to think that his actions would not provoke further retaliation to the point of his saying, … and after that I will quit.  At the very beginning our struggle was initiated:  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).  Like Samson, we may think we can walk away from trouble, but that is not how it works.  In the world you will have tribulation, Jesus promised us. 

The promise of peace and joy is for the heart, independent of circumstances.  No one who in any way goes about the Lord’s business should expect anything other than constant harassment and attacks from the enemy.  

Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.  Being born from above means that we are targeted -- that we have, like poor Hal, a bullseye painted on us.  As long as Samson left his hair uncut, he was empowered by God, but it was also a red flag waved at the enemy, an open taunt to the adversary. 

I don’t remember signing up for this.  For some reason, they didn’t spend a whole lot of time on this subject in Sunday School.  Perhaps I was absent or dozing that day.  I have offered my resignation several times, but it has, apparently, been rejected.  And when your position is surrounded by a vindictive force hell-bent on your destruction and humiliation, desertion isn’t much of an option lest one end up eyeless in Gaza, as Huxley said.  The positive alternative is to cling to God’s promise that the trial will not be beyond our ability to endure.  (Seriously, I am not that tough.)  There is, though, no retreat, no holding the fort, no truce. 

I think my confusion might come from the truth that Christ has been victorious over all the power of the enemy.  Through the Holy Spirit, I am able to participate in that victory.  In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe there is a scene after Aslan’s death and resurrection where He goes into the “trophy room” of the witch’s fortress and quickens all the creatures turned to stone.  They do not go on a picnic.  Instead they rush into the battle.  We are given life and power to fight.  To be partakers of Christ’s victory means to follow Him into battle.  As Rick noted in a comment a couple of days ago, the crucifixion of Christ is eternal, as is His resurrection, as is His victory.

When we receive the new and eternal life – the only kind God has to give us – we are released from bondage and enter in as combatants to that eternal struggle.  As Christ overcame, so we must overcome through Him and in Him.    

The Deep

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  — Luke 5:3-6

Simon engaged in an act of faith.  It is clear from his response that he, the professional fisherman, was not about to believe that he was actually going to catch any fish.  No, Simon was merely humoring a celebrity — for that is what this itinerant rabbi called Jesus was at this point.  Jesus was an engaging teacher associated with some healings and, possibly, a prophet.  But no one much considered Him to be the only-begotten Son of God.  We have seen that His family was not supportive.  His kinfolk in Nazareth had tried to kill Him.  Despite His popularity, or notoriety, Jesus was creating enthusiasm and interest but not much devotion.  Simon, Andrew, James, and John don't know it yet, but they are about to be in on the calling of Christ's first disciples.

Simon Peter demonstrates that faith is not a matter of mental acquiescence.  It is not a matter of reasoning or logic or anything we can grasp in the conscious mind.  Fishing as these men did it was not a sport.  It was a long-practiced and perfected craft.  They fished at night when those denizens of the lake came into the shallows to feed.  They did not put down their nets in deep water but used the net to sweep through the shoals catching the fish between the nets and the shore.  Letting down a net in deep water was a waste of effort.  All you got was a wet net.  

We sometimes fail to give people of biblical times credit for any knowledge or what we think of as modern thought processes.  For example, I can assure you that people in those days knew where babies came from.  They may have told some fantastic stories, legends, and myths, but so do we. 

Abraham and Sarah knew that ninety-year-old women do not get pregnant.  The very idea was laughable to them.  They may not have known all the cellular and molecular biology behind it, but they did breed and tend livestock.  Like the saying goes, "We may be from the country, but we know how the cows come home."  No one who has ever pulled a calf or assisted in lambing or foaling has any illusions about storks.  They also butchered their own meat.  Odds are Abraham knew a lot more about anatomy and which parts do what than the average urban-dwelling 21st Century Schizoid Man.  So, too, in the days of Christ, no one believed in virgin births — not even Mary as evidenced by her stating of the obvious -- "I don't see how that's gonna happen" -- in response to the angelic announcement of her impending conception.  Sexual knowledge did not begin with Dr. Freud or Dr. Ruth or Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.   

If there is a difference between us and people like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and the Apostles, it is that they were a little less willing to think that they already knew it all, that they somehow had access to all the secrets, that technology made them all geniuses.  These days people who cannot make change from a dollar think they understand Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity because they have heard "E-equals-M-C-squared", or because they have watched "The Big Bang Theory" on television.  Knowing how to use a smart phone does not make one smart.   

As Hebrews 11:1 famously says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  When we read that chapter in the book of Hebrews, we are struck by how those heroes of faith consistently transcended the limitations of their human understanding in response to His word.  God does not call us to stop thinking logically or reasoning or learning or acquiring material knowledge.  He calls us to go beyond the shallow, conscious mind and plumb the depths.  The "things not seen" refers not just to heaven but to all the treasures and resources of our life that lie below the surface.  Like Simon, if we are going to transcend our current state, we are occasionally going to have to move out of what we know from experience, from what we are taught by the world. 

Interestingly, this is not the only time this same group had this experience with Jesus.  From John 21:1-7, we read: 

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.  Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.  Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  

I have heard people say that if they had lived in the days of Christ's Incarnation and seen Him raised from the dead, they would "have more faith".  It does not work that way.  Seeing is a function of faith.  Certainly seeing the positive outcome of an act of faith can make us more willing, perhaps, to risk ourselves again.  But an act of faith is an act of faith.  There is just no getting around it.  Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

For three years, Peter and the rest had left their boats and followed Christ.  They had seen Him do all the miracles.  They were witnesses of His death, burial and resurrection.  So Peter says, "Well, I reckon we need to go back to fishin', boys."  I am no different.  I have been transformed by the power of the Blood.  But, after all, a man's got to live.  Jesus reminds them and me and you that "once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia".  It's not that we can't fish any more, it's that we will never fish quite the same way again.  We will always be eying that deep water.  And listening. 

Strength and Weakness

A few days ago, I heard a chorus that said grace is enough for us, and it contained the line, “The weak will lead the strong.” I don’t know who wrote the chorus, but I can guess that one passage he or she had in mind was this:

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9,10

The old saying is that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I am reminded of this every time I watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and come to the scene where the Beavers, Peter, Lucy, and Susan are running across open ground thinking the White Witch is about to catch them. They can only go as fast as the slowest member of the group. They will not leave anyone behind. So must our intent be in the Body of Christ. In John 17, Jesus prayed that we would all be one in Him. Paul tells us to be considerate of weaker brothers. If I think I am strong then I ought, all the more, show deference to the weak. It is good and appropriate that we are advancing in the kingdom, learning, gaining enlightenment and power, but we should not leave our brothers and sisters behind. Keep the weaker in front, encourage and support them.

Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth. If you want to know what meekness is watch a powerful man wrestling with his small son. It is obvious that at any time the father could easily overcome the child’s small strength, but he does not. Not only does the man give in to the boy’s efforts, but he does so in such a way as to protect the little one and keep him from injuring himself. Meekness is strength voluntarily yielding and shielding.

“Turn the other cheek” has always been a problem for me. Does God really expect me to let people just run over me? Must a Christian surrender to oppression and injustice?

Think about what the Lord is saying. He is talking to me personally. If someone wants to cheat me and take my coat, not only should I give him the coat, but I should throw my shirt in, though he did not ask for it. As the old folks would say, “If he can live with it, I can live without.” Who is stronger: the one who connives to steal the coat, or the one who gives it up joyfully with the shirt as well?

The law said that a soldier might make a demand on a civilian to carry his pack for him to the next mile marker. Jesus said if that demand is placed on me, I should carry it not to the next mile marker, but joyful go a second mile that I don’t have to. Who is stronger: the one who makes a demand under an oppressive law, or the one who thinks nothing of the burden and the second mile?

If someone slaps me on the cheek, it stings. It is enough to make the adrenaline dump and blood rush to my face. I feel anger, but I am not really hurt. Who is stronger: the one who slaps someone’s face, or the one who smiles and offers to let them slap the other cheek?

The Lord isn’t telling me to be a pacifist, to stand aside and allow the wicked to oppress, ravage, and destroy the less powerful. He is telling me to keep my perspective. The world is full of cowards and petty tyrants who will attempt to bully and humiliate us. When He says, “Turn the other cheek”, He is thinking of those people, people who can possibly be moved, changed, or inspired by the meekness and joyous nobility of the true Christian.

Do not be overcome by evil. But overcome evil with good.