Tuesday, December 19, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Samson’s strong shoulders
An angel appeared to Manoah’s wife. “You will conceive and bear a son, and he is to be consecrated to God from the womb until the day of his death. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel. “
His parents named him Samson. The Lord blessed Samson and the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir in him.
What brings Samson to the party, here in the middle of Advent, just a day or two before the winter solstice, when the days are dark and getting darker, when the moon is (at least this year) waxing, when our reds and greens are clamoring to come out of the closet, as we await the coming of our Lord and King Jesus?
All hail King Jesus, all hail the King of Kings.
The bible says it was Samson who began this thing:
It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel.
I asked, “Why Samson, why now?” And Google led me to Father John Roskowski:
Historically, theologically, and literarily Samson prepared the way for David. Essentially, he was to begin the war that David was to finish (2 Samuel 8:1).
Second, by preparing the way for David, Samson also began the line that led to the Messiah, Christ Jesus.
In the New Testament, the Letter to the Hebrews praises Samson as one of the “heroes of faith” (11:32) that looked toward the Messiah. The author of Hebrews saw Samson’s victories as being done by faith. Therefore, it was Jesus who fulfilled the faith of Samson.
And now in our own millenium, not just the faith of Samson, but the faith of our fathers, the faith of every generation since the first Advent and Christmas, and our faith too. All standing on the shoulders of Samson. As the Polish priest says so well:
Therefore, in this time of intense preparation for the birth of Christ we need to remember the witnesses of the faith, like Samson, who were sent by God to make the way clear for His Son. Samson stands at the foundation of the messianic process. God chose to rest the entire structure of messianic history on his powerful shoulders.
How can I keep from singing on this sweet Tuesday of the third week of Advent? The symphony of Jesus’ birth is about to begin.
Among us
A flock of birds sits in every branch of a tree,
in the exact shape of the tree.
Beloved, we are the shape of you, unknown.
If only we knew
how deeply you are already here,
whispering in our ears,
slipping wisdom into our hearts
behind our backs,
walking through the days
sopping up the suffering
that would be so much worse
if we weren’t accompanied.
Our healing flows in your veins.
You are our continent.
You haunt us with mercy.
Unknown, you sustain us.
Teach us to trust what we cannot feel.
What we await is not your arrival
but our awakening. – Steve Garnaas-Holmes
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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