Our meditation is based on the Gospel Reading we just heard, Matthew 15:21-28. At first blush, this reading is a first century discussion of Purina Dog Chow. It seems to be centered on the conversation between the Canaanite woman and Jesus, and they are talking about giving food to dogs. But like most of the narratives involving Christ there is so much more.
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The story of Samson is another Biblical tragedy…but a tragedy like the story of Job in our Readings today, which for all its tragic events, ends with the light of redemption. Yes, we learn a little bit about Samson during our Sunday School days. His hair and his great strength. Delilah and that haircut. And how Samson brought down the house at the Philistine party in the temple of Dagon. But if all we know about Samson are fragments of childhood stories, well, he easily becomes a mythic figure, an Old Testament Hercules, or, worse, a kind of Biblical Bizaro!
But if we want to make comparisons to fiction, the saga of this man of strength shares a lot in common with the life and fate of Mary Shelly’s famous gothic monster created by Dr. Viktor von Frankenstein. In Shelly’s novel, more so than in the Boris Karloff movie, Frankenstein’s Promethean creation wanted to be loved. But he was feared. The creature said to his creator, “I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel.” And Samson is definitely that, a man torn between God and the devil!
It’s interesting to note here, that while the people are doing a lot of talking, God is not. With Joshua and Deborah, God told them to lead Israel into battle. With Gideon, God spoke through an angel. But here, there is no call from God. That is significant! It doesn’t mean that His hand is not involved. It just means that we don’t get to know His involvement in this episode.
While Jephthah vows to let God decide the outcome of this war, neither he nor we the readers know anything of what God intends! As Abraham Lincoln said of God during the Civil War, “The Almighty has His own purposes.” It’s not wise to assume which side He’s going to be on.
The month of August is a month of endings. The weeks of summer have passed quickly, as they often do, and “back to school” signs are all around us. This month also marks the end of Pastor Hendrickson’s time at St. Peter’s (which began in October 1991), and the beginning…
The Book of Judges is a chronicle of God’s faithful intervention in the course of Israel’s checkered history. And when God acts, Israel succeeds amazingly! But sometimes…it does seem as though the Almighty has a sense of humor in how he goes about it. It’s as the character Tevye says to God in Fiddler on the Roof, “Sometimes I think, when it gets too quiet up there, You say to Yourself, ‘What kind of mischief can I play on My good friend, Tevye.’”
Indeed, the story of Gideon is, once again, a story of God’s faithfulness to His own promises, and of His power to bring victory out of defeat, light out of darkness, salvation out of judgment. But…the way this story unfolds…it sounds as though He has a certain twinkle in His eye as He does so!