The Blinding Of Samson
They say they want Jesus, they mean Yahweh
Greetings friends, we’re delving into the story of Samson this week. Also, the latest episode of Jawbone has arrived, where we’re encountering divine ground – and its consequences, with stories from The Woman at the Well to a Mongolian folktale.
I recently had this exact conversation.
We just can’t lock you in. Sometimes you sound like you agree with us, then you sound like you agree with them. What are you?
I’m a Christian. I look everyone I meet straight in the eye with that reality, whatever they say their views are. I changed my life for that privilege. Anything else has me blinded.
Oh, well we want that kind of world too, we’re fighting for it. We need to know you’re with us.
I don’t think you do. I don’t think you want Jesus at all, I think you want Yahweh.
Now before we all get too animated, trust me, I know you can’t separate Christ from the Old Testament. And I know Yahweh is more complex than what I’m presenting here, I’m a preacher’s kid. But there’s quite the tune-up that goes on in the New Testament. Compassion is not a resource entirely for left, right or centre, but I surely can recognise when it’s completely gone out the window. Just because it’s sometimes politically weaponised doesn’t mean it can be abandoned. And when it’s gone I don’t give a rat’s arse who’s holding the microphone, I’m done. When it’s rules, no mercy and imploring God for vengeance over your pitiful hurt feelings, then no barley is growing in your words.
Wherever you are on the spectrum of all political upheaving, let this be a shelter from that, let you have a place at the table, and room to breathe, and some fresh air around. Let your head settle a bit.
So – let’s dig into a deep, troubling and pertinent story. About someone you are sure to have heard of.
Samson: A Sketch Not A Painting
He didn’t have the muscles we see in all the pictures. God gave him the strength. And it wasn’t all day, every day. If he’d had the beef cake they would hardly have needed to probe for where his power came from. No, this kind of oomph did not come from workouts, it wasn’t a tap he could turn on and off, it was a God-given strength. He isn’t Hercules, he isn’t Thor. I couldn’t even call him a hero, though thought him so as a child. He’s mostly a cautionary tale.
And God-given strength or not, he’s going to die out there in Gaza.