Joó Sándor Dr.
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[AI translation] 1And Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and went in to her. 2And when they had told the men of Gaza, saying, Here is Samson come, they compassed her about, and watched after her all night at the gate of the city, and listened all night, and said, In the morning, when it is light, we will kill her. 3And Samson slept till midnight. And at midnight he arose, and took the wings of the gate of the city, and tore them down with the gates and the bars, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is opposite Hebron. 4And it came to pass after this, that he loved a woman in the valley of Zorek, whose name was Delilah. 5And the princes of the Philistines came up to him, and said to him, Ask him, and know what his great power is, and how we may take strength from him to bind him and to torment him, and we will give you each one of us a thousand hundred shekels of silver. 6And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me wherein is thy great strength, and wherewith thou shalt be bound, that they may torment thee. 7And Samson said to him, If I am bound with seven raw gouaches which are not yet dry, I shall be weak and become like other men. 8Then the lords of the Philistines brought him seven raw gauzes that were not yet dry, and he bound him with them. 9The men who were lying in wait waited for him in the bedchamber. And he said to him. And he broke the thongs, as a drop of thread is broken when it is set on fire; and they knew not what his strength was. 10And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast deceived me, and hast told me a lie: now tell me truly, wherewith canst thou be bound? 11And she said unto him, If I be bound strong with new cords, with which I have not yet done any thing, then I shall be weak, and shall be as another man. 12And Delilah took new cords, and bound him with them, and said unto him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson (for there they were lying in wait for him in the chamber of the net). But he rent them from his arms as a thread. 13And Delilah said to Samson, How long wilt thou deceive me, and lie to me? Tell me once with what you can bind me. 14And when he had fastened the cord with a nail, he said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he woke up from his sleep, and tore out the peg and the twine. 15Then said Delilah unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Hast thou now thrice provoked me, and hast not told me wherein is thy great strength? 16And when he troubled him daily with his words, and tormented him, his soul was weary to death, 17And he opened his whole heart to him, and said unto him, I never had a razor on my head, for I am holy to God from my mother's womb: if I have him sheared, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall be weak, and become as any man. 18And when Delilah saw that he had opened his whole heart to her, she sent and called for the princes of the Philistines, and said, Come up this once, for she has opened her whole heart to me. And the princes of the Philistines came up to him, and took the money in their hands. 19And he put him to sleep on his knees, and called a man, and stripped off the seven braids of his head, and began to torment him. 20And he said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And when he awoke out of his sleep, he said, I will go out now as at other times, and shake off the bonds: for he knew not yet that the Lord had departed from him. 21But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and led him down to Gaza, and there they bound him with two chains of iron, and he was made to grind in the prison. (2 Kings 25:7; Exodus 11:5) 22But the hair of his head began to grow again after he was circumcised. 23And when the leaders of the Philistines had gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to rejoice, they said: (1 Sam 5:2) 24And when the people saw him, they praised their gods, because, they said, "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and he who has slain many of us. 25And when their hearts were gladdened, they said: Call Samson, and let him play before us. And they called Samson out of the prison, and he played before them, and they set him up among the pillars. 26Samson said to the boy who led him by the hand, "Let me go, that I may take hold of the pillars on which the house rests, and lean against them. 27The house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women, spectators of Samson's game. 28Then Samson cried to the Lord and said, "Lord God, please remember me and strengthen me, just this once, O God, so that I may once avenge myself on the Philistines for the world of my two eyes! 29And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, one with his right hand and the other with his left, and leaned on them. 30And Samson said, "Let me also be lost with the Philistines! And with great violence he shook the pillars, and the house fell upon the princes and all the people who were in it, so that he killed more by his death than he had killed in his life. 31And his brothers and all his father's house went down and took him away, and returned and buried him between Zorah and Esthol in the tomb of his father Manoah, after he had judged Israel for twenty years.
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Bír 16

[AI translation] Once again, we have before us a very distinctive, and I might even say a very interesting, figure of the Old Testament in the person of this legendary Samson. We all know very well that this great tragedy, which I have just read out here, has inspired various artists in many different ways. Just think, for example, of Milton's Samson, or Saint Saens's opera, or Handel's oratorio, or even László Németh's great Tragedy of Samson, to mention only the most notable. But we are not interested in it now as an interesting story or as a gem of love poetry in world literature, but as the Word of God. That is, as the message of God, through which the living God himself warns us and addresses us.What is this message about? Perhaps the shortest way I can summarise it is this: the story of the fall and conversion of a life and a man called to God. What makes the whole story really serious is the thought that strikes most people's hearts on a superficial reading that Samson's hair was of such great significance. How is it that while he had his hair he had his power, and with his hair he lost his power? So it's almost a little bit of the world of vague sagas that this whole story takes place in. Well, we must know, then, that in the ancient times of Israel there were individuals who were especially devoted to God, the so-called Nazirites, who took a vow to set themselves apart for a certain longer or shorter period of time to serve God, and as an outward sign of this, during this time they did not cut their hair or shave their beards. You may remember that the apostle Paul took such a vow when he returned to Jerusalem from his third great journey. It was only a temporary vow, for a certain time, as long as the vow lasted.
But there was also a time when the expected child was dedicated to God by his parents for the rest of his life before he was born. Such a Nazirite was Samson, and if we remember correctly, also the prophet Samuel and John the Baptist, and in all probability Jesus himself. And the outward expression of this nazirism, of this wholly consecrated character, was that certain long hair which, from birth, was not allowed to be touched with scissors or to have its beard trimmed. Now, then, the power of Samson was not in his hair in the essential sense, but in the fact that this man was consecrated to God from the beginning. In his consecration to God, that long hair was only a symbol. It was a symbol of the fact that this man was the betrothed of God, the instrument of the living God, and in a special way the man at God's disposal.
Perhaps I could use a simile to express this: Samson's long hair was like the cloak on the pastor. It is not the cloak that makes a man a servant of the Word, it is merely a symbol, an outward expression, of the fact that the man on whose shoulders it rests is a man specially set apart for the service of God. But let us go even closer. In the end, all of us who are here, all of you, not just me, all of us are wearing an invisible cloak. We received it in the baptism. Because the fact that we are baptised is ultimately a sign, a seal even, that we are, or at least ought to be, all of us, without exception, people with a life dedicated to God, consecrated to God. It is then much more understandable that Samson sacrificed his consecrated life to God along with his hair, and ultimately for a passion. The very fact that he then lost his strength shows how much his strength was not in himself, and certainly not in his hair, but in God. In his special relationship with God. For as soon as his relationship with God was broken, at that moment this Heros became a miserable man, helpless, helpless, all his exceptionality was gone.
This story points to a great truth in a terrifying way. It shows that every man has one or two major sins which accompany him throughout his life, which, even when once conquered, always rise again and always haunt him. The one that never becomes a settled issue in his life, the one that keeps coming back and must be fought against ceaselessly, and the one that, if man is not vigilant and watchful, will bring him down and tear him out of communion with God. Every man's life has its Achilles' heel. That particular weak spot where he is most vulnerable and most vulnerable to attack. In Samson's case, it was excessive sexuality. This Samson had many other women's affairs - we know the story - but he somehow managed to get out of all of them, and this last one was his final fall. But it is not only sexuality that is so dangerous, there may be other things that seem much simpler. It may be some other desire of the body, such as laziness, or dressing, or some other obsession of the soul, such as lying: some people do not even realise that they are constantly distorting reality. Or vanity, for example: one does not realise how much one is putting everything and everyone at its service. Or maybe it's the desire to appear to be more, which makes one stiffen in a constant spasmodic effort. Or the tyrannical nature which, even when it wants to do good, can make one's whole family and relatives miserable. Or perhaps it is the sharp tongue, which does not know how many wounds it carves in other people's souls. Or whatever small, secret sin that lurks so deep in the soul that no one notices, no one sees, no one knows about it, which can make someone look like a very decent person from the outside. Or perhaps it is the vivid fantasy with which the victim plays certain innocent games, to the point where he is finally completely immersed in it and lives entirely in a world of fantasies. Or perhaps it is a hateful thought: one does not realise how much one's face twitches sometimes when one speaks of someone or someone's whom one hates with an unforgiving hatred. Or perhaps it's the nagging nature with which one can unwittingly pour so much bitterness around oneself. Don't imagine that I'm just saying these things at random. I could name specific persons for each of them, I could almost point to one or other of you in relation to them. And especially do not think that these are lesser sins than Samson's. At most they are only a little more elegant, not looking so ugly, but just as dangerous. And it is a good thing, too, if a man knows what the chief sin of his life is, where that particular weakness of his life is, he is most vulnerable, because then at least he knows where to watch out for the intrusion, because if he does not watch out, this sin will take such a hold of him that he will be led unnoticed off the path that God has given him, and he will be able to betray his most sacred secret, his vocation, and destroy himself for it.
But how many times today does it happen that a person destroys his family life by a sin not taken seriously! Or someone may sacrifice his health for the sake of a passion, or someone may be cut off from God, lose his relationship with God, because of a favourite sin. And this is always the case: if someone does not want to break with such a sin, then let us realize that either you will win over sin, or it will win over you! The most tragic twist in this story is that when Samson wakes up, his hair already shorn as usual, and wants to shake off the Philistines again, it is written: 'he did not yet know that the Lord had departed from him'. He was so deeply immersed in the pleasure of sin that he did not realize that God had long since forsaken him. And this is the result of unconquered sin. This is what repented sin does, the sin that man plays with, that he does not seriously take up the fight against. And woe to us that once the Lord forsakes us! As it was woe to Samson: when he woke up, when he was refreshed, it was too late. Of course, the temptation was too great, I admit, and it drew him in. One might say: but could not God have delivered him from this temptation? After all, there is even a promise in the Bible that the Lord will provide a way out of temptation (1 Cor 10:13). Not then. God can give victory in the greatest temptations and rescue you from the most dangerous situations if He sends you. But you can't stop even the smallest temptation if you put yourself into it. To count on God's help in such cases is indeed temptation. And if anyone prays earnestly that you will not lead us into temptation, let him not enter into temptation himself.
Believe me, we would have many more victories in our lives if we would think more about not getting into situations where we know that some weak point in our life could be attacked. If you know, for example, that someone's company is not good for you, then avoid it, don't go there. Anyone who knows that his weakness is drink should be completely abstinent. And he who knows that his sharp tongue and nagging temper have already caused a great deal of trouble and bitterness to those around him, let him not seek to tie a knot in every pile. I shall never forget the prayer of the old German peasant whom I once heard begging, 'Lord, if I am in the mood for any sin, do not let me have occasion to commit it. And if I have occasion to do it, do not let me have an inclination to do it." It is also very characteristic what the chronicler says here about Delilah: "When after that he harassed her every day with his words and tormented her, her soul was weary to death." This is the quality of sin, that it harasses and torments a man, so that his soul is weary to death. And the wonderful thing is that man does not shake it off, does not want to run away from it, does not run away from it. Because this harassment hurts and it's good. Because this torment is both beautiful and ugly, because this harassment and this torment is both loved and hated.
Samson, flee before it is too late! For sin will not cease from ever-renewing harassment and torment, and there is a running that is not shame, that is not cowardice, but is strength and valour. That if Samson had been more afraid of Delilah, and had run away from her in fear, he could have dealt with the Philistines as he had done before. But inwardly he was already bound. And so it was natural that he should be overcome by enemies he could easily deal with at other times. For if one is bound inwardly, the lesser enemies of the soul will easily triumph over him, and he will easily fall a victim. Sin is not so much a thing to be trifled with, but it thoroughly deceives him who trifles with it. It would be a terrible thing if this story could only go on so long. But it does not go on, it goes on. It continues with Samson's hair growing back in prison. This, of course, is again a symbol. It is meant to show that Samson's heart is turning back to God in deeper and deeper repentance. Now he was blind in both eyes, but he was beginning to see. Now, though his hands and feet were in chains, he was beginning to be truly free. In prosperity, Delilah's person had obscured from him his own vocation and service to his people, but all this was now awakening in him again. Even in the greatest misery he has become more powerful and stronger and freer than he ever was.
Such is repentance, true repentance. For repentance is like the opening of a door through which I let into my soul the grace of God and the cleansing stream of His Spirit, the air. Someone once said so beautifully that the lock of the door through which God's help and grace can flow into a person's life is not on the side of God, but on the side of man. It is not on the outside, but on the inside. The only thing that can break this lock is repentance! It is entirely up to us. Even God cannot do it for us. But the moment a soul opens in true repentance, the moment blessing and help flows to it. Behold, the way is open to God even for the most fallen sinner, the moment he turns in true repentance to God in humility. Samson's sin was great, his fall was terribly deep, but behold, there in the depths he learned to pray again. He says, "O Lord God, remember me and strengthen me just once more, O God." And as soon as he prays, he is a hero again. God returns to him, the God who humbled him, now lifts him up and strengthens him even more. The blinded slave, meant to be a clown, embraces the two great pillars supporting the whole building and shakes them so that the whole thing collapses. He buries everyone who was there, including himself. The chronicler notes that he killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life. As terrible as this story is, let us not forget that it is only the beginning of the Old Testament era. In fact, the point of this final scene is that Samson's last service to his people in the face of his enemies was accomplished by the sacrifice of his own life. Strange and strange as this Samson is, he points to Golgotha at this point. For the Samson who did a greater service with his death than with his life points to the Jesus who did the greatest service with his death. Who won the greatest victory by sacrificing His own life, but while Samson gave His life so that His enemies might perish, Jesus gave Himself to death so that His enemies might be saved and live! Escaping into God's forgiving grace, they can live forever! So this other death, this death on Calvary, is the only true victory over all our secret or open enemies. So over all the powers of sin and death. It is by faith in the victory of Jesus that you and I can be delivered from the one or two major and so many other sins in our lives that have caused so much trouble in our lives.
And now let each of us think about that particular Achilles' heel of our lives, that weak spot where we are most vulnerable. That major sin in your life. Name it and take it in your spirit now to Jesus, victorious at Calvary. So, each one of you, think of your own weakness, your own misery, bring it to Jesus and pray with the verses of hymn 469:
Thy grace and faith loose the chains of my sin;
Break the idols of my foolish heart!
Give me liberty and a pure heart,
Draw me, Jesus, to walk with you!
Lead me in your way: be yourself the way,
By which my soul from death to life.
Jesus, gentle and meek, See me:
Let not my hand, my faithful Saviour, go!
(Canto 469, verses 2-5)
Amen.
Date: 18 January 1970. Evangelization