Brian Scalabrine is considered by fans as one of the worst NBA players to make it to the professional level. Fans would degrade and mock him for being so bad. It got to the point where fans began to call him out that they could beat him, saying he didn’t deserve to play and that they were more NBA material than he was.
Well Scalabrine got tired of it and issued a challenge to those fans. He challenged them to a one-on-one game, and took on several in a row. Every game was a blow out. Scalabrine showed the difference between an NBA player and someone who isn’t. He went on to say to those fans that thought they were better, “I’m closer to Lebron James, than you are to me.”
When comparing two things, we try to only compare things that are close in approximation. But there are times when we need to realize just how different two things, we think are close, actually are.
So today, we’re going to do just that, and it’s this comparison that brings us back to our summer series, where we’ll be ending Samson’s story in Judges chapter 16, starting in verse 21.
And as we open up to Judges 16:21, let’s look at where we are so far in Samson’s story. In the last two weeks we looked at two parts of Samson’s life. First we looked at his birth, noticing that Samson had everything prepared for him to do well as a judge. In fact, by being informed that the Angel of the Lord came to a barren woman to bring about a divine work in the birth of Samson, Scripture is basically telling us, Samson should have been the greatest of the judges. But we walked away with an understanding that it isn’t our genetics, nor is it our environment that compels us to follow God. The faithfulness of God’s people comes from an active choice in doing what the Lord says.
This becomes apparent when we then looked at Samson’s life. Samson led a life that was self-focused. His selfishness led to many deaths, and his own humiliation. And yet, God was faithful to the people of Israel, working within Samson’s acts to bring about judgement on the Philistines and redemption for Israel. And from Samson’s life we walked away with the understanding that, we might experience good and we might experience evil in our lives, this alone doesn’t mean that we are either being faithful or unfaithful. Samson was unfaithful and yet seemed to come out on top in every situation. True faithfulness is seeking God’s will no matter what situation we find ourselves in.
With these two parts of faithfulness in our minds, let’s start reading from Judges chapter 16, verse 21.
“21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
“23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, ‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.’
“24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, ‘Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.’ 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, ‘Call Samson, that he may entertain us.’ So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, ‘Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.’ 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
“28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.’
“29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.”
Samson’s death, like his life, ends in tragedy. From the moment we read about his desire for a woman outside of God’s prescribed allotment, to the moment of his death, Samson is one of the most tragic and relatable people in all of Scripture. Let’s look at his final moments.
As we saw last week, when Samson is captured by the Philistines, his eyes are gouged out. This is fitting for a man who has spent his life going after whatever pleased his sight. From the first Philistine woman, to the foxes, to the jaw bone, to the prostitute, to Delilah. Whatever Samson saw that could benefit him, he used for that benefit. This is a divine punishment, because it was the eyes of Samson that caused him to sin, and so his eyes were taken from him.
He is then further humiliated by working the mill, to grind grain as a punishment for destroying the Philistine’s crops earlier in his life.
It’s here in verse 23 and 24 that we get the common thought of Near Eastern belief. When a victory happens it means that the god of the victor overcame the god of the defeated. So the Philistines praise their god Dagon, a half-man half-fish deity of fertility and possibly the father of the Canaanite god Baal. But as the reader, who has insight into who Samson was suppose to be and how he chose to live his life, we know that Yahweh is disciplining Samson for his selfish acts.
Yet it’s at Samson’s lowest that a glimmer of repentance is seen. When Samson is brought out and placed between the two pillars to be laughed at by the Philistines, he speaks this to God, “O Lord God, please remember me…” This statement is really important because the phrase, “remember me” is a Scriptural call for grace. Another version, would be something like, “Lord have mercy.” Even if the reason Samson is calling out to God is to be used to take vengeance, still, it’s a drastic departure from the man we just followed for two and half chapters.
Samson has relied on his own strength, and his own desires his entire life. In fact there is never a moment where he talks to God in a submissive way. But in this moment, he falls back to God and asks for grace. It’s because of this act that the Hebrew writer would later mention Samson in his list of the faithful in chapter 11 of his book. Why? Because God is not looking for perfect acts from his people, he is looking for humble hearts. Even the slightest act of humility, God blesses.
This is the point of the of Jesus’ sacrifice. In the opening of the Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 12, John writes, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” What saves us? Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. How do we earn that salvation? We don’t, all we can do is accept it, and in that one act of humility, God lavishes us with his love for eternity.
And it’s in comparing Samson’s death and Jesus’ death that we can understand God’s purposes for us.
Samson’s sacrifice comes from a life focused on himself and a moment of humility. Jesus’ sacrifice on the other hand, comes from a life given over to servanthood and humanity. And so God calls us to be like Jesus in living humbly. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-8, “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The follower of Jesus is to be a humble servant of their God, like their Lord.
Where Samson’s sacrifice comes from a desire to get even, though he humbles himself asking for the grace of God in that moment, Jesus’ sacrifice comes from a desire to bring about an end that separates us from God. 1 John 2:2 reads, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” That word propitiation means to appease someone who has a justified reason for repayment. It means that the debt that one party owes has been completely dealt with and now, both parties can live in peace. God seeks his people to live at peace with him and those around them.
But let’s not sugar coat it, Samson action is vengeful at the end, whereas Jesus’ is graceful to the end. In Luke 23:34, we get some of Jesus’ words, “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” Jesus’ words come from the very heart of God. God seeks forgiveness over vengeance, and so gives humanity the opportunity to accept that forgiveness, until the time comes, when the only option is a choice on the side of humanity to receive vengeance.
And it’s because of that vengeance that Samson’s sacrifice was meant to bring judgment on others. Yet in Jesus’ sacrifice, he means to remove judgment for those who would believe. Paul writes in Romans 8:1-2, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Those that accept Jesus as Savior, recognizing that they have sinned and rebelled against God, are fully accepted by God and the wrath of God has been removed from them and they now stand with no crime over them.
One last comparison. Samson is given as the last judge to show us the descent of Israel into rebellion against God. This rebellion is already common among the other groups such as the Canaanites and the Philistines, but Israel was’t intended to go down this path of rebellion, because they were in covenant relationship with the one true God. This brings us back to the Gospel of John and his opening chapter where he writes, starting in verse 9, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John is referencing the rejection that Jesus encountered by the Israel of his day; the same rejection of God that we see in the days of the judges. But just like Samson who sought the mercy of God in his time of trouble, anyone, whether an Israelite in the judges day, or one of us today, anyone can accept Jesus’ gift of salvation by accepting it. You’re not born saved, you’re not born into God’s family, you’re reborn through the acceptance of Jesus as Savior. That means we agree with God that we are in rebellion, which is what the Bible calls sin, we agree we cannot fix that rebellion on our own, and we accept that Jesus took on the punishment we deserve for rebellion, and now seek God’s will in our lives.
Samson shows us that human saviors are just stop gap measures in the grand scheme of things. No politician, monarch, or leader of any kind can do what is necessary to fix the ills of humanity. Only through God can we hope that humanity’s descent into chaos can be stopped. And it’s starts at the cross, where God the Son was crucified to break the power of sin. It moves through the empty tomb to the resurrection, that guarantees the acceptance of that sacrifice and opens the door to eternal life. And humanity’s plight ends when Jesus himself returns. Two have come and gone, and we wait in anticipation for the day of his return. Until that day every individual has an opportunity to turn from sin and turn to God’s grace. But when that day dawns, and Jesus returns, there will no be longer any time for salvation. Therefore we must listen and respond to God’s call to come to him and repent of our sin, taking seriously the words of Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
To the one who hasn’t believed in and follows Jesus, today you are being called to a right relationship with him. It’s starts with recognizing that you have sinned, like we all have. We all have broken out in rebellion against God, with wanting our own way instead of his. But Jesus gave each of us an opportunity to have that rebellion forgiven and to live his eternal life starting today. After we recognize sin, we thank God for Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, he took the punishment of that sin, and we ask for the grace that gave Samson strength, to forgive us and to take away the power of sin in our lives. And for the rest of our lives we seek God will for us, giving up our self-focused desires for his. And when we do that, we move out of being in rebellion to God and into a right relationship with him, and a whole new world awaits us.
To the believer who has already accepted Jesus as Savior, we should be seeking that grace that first found us and brought us to salvation and a right relationship with God. We seek God’s grace that we may continue to grow in his righteousness. That we may walk more rightly today than yesterday and more in God’s will than ever before.
Let’s learn from Samson, that faithfulness is our choice, yet even when we falter, grace is greater than any miss step we could make.
This week I want to challenge those who haven’t put their trust into Jesus as Savior, to read through Samson’s life and notice how God works even in our rebellion, and see how graceful God is even in our slightest show of humility.
To the believer I challenge you to seek God’s grace in an area that you’re struggling in. It might be like Samson where your eyes are causing you to sin, seek God’s grace. It might be in self-centered desires, seek God’s will to be done. Whatever it is, let us all seek God’s grace in that area this week.
So Let us be a people of grace, both of receiving it from our Lord Jesus and giving it out to those who have yet to experience God’s salvation. Let us emulate our God, so that the world may know he is true, faithful, and coming again. Amen.
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