In 2008
Clint Eastwood starred in the movie, Gran Torino. For four years Eastwood had not starred in a feature film. Million Dollar Baby was his last. But in
Gran Torino Eastwood not only
distinguishes himself as a bitter, disgruntled, bigoted widower, former
automobile worker, and Korean War veteran; he gives us a picture of Jesus.
Walt
Kowalski (Eastwood) is living in a transitioning neighborhood in the center of
Detroit. After catching his teenaged Vietnamese next door neighbor, Thao,
trying to steal his car, Kowalski forms a friendship with the boy and his
family; which turns out to be redemptive not only for the wayward youth, but
for Kowalski himself.
At the end
of the movie Kowalski willingly lays down his life to save another young stranger
from a life of gangs and violence. The parallels with Jesus are so stunning
that many Christians who watch it have to choke back tears. In the end,
however, Kowalski, like many characters in Scripture, has little in common with
Jesus Christ.
Consider
Samson. Samson is a perfect portrait of Jesus in many respects. And yet, he is
also a bloodthirsty goon who never turns away from a temptation, even when it’s
obvious that it will lead to his downfall. And yet, Samson is a picture of
Christ. One of the last lines in the Book of Judges about him says, “And Samson
said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ Then he bowed his head with all his
strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in
it.” His violent death paved the way for the Israelites, years later, to defeat
the Philistines and gain their freedom. Thus, Samson willingly gave his life to
deliver God’s people.
Looking at
the balance of Samson’s life you may think that he is a sorry “type” of Christ.
However, Samson, like Kowalski, has as much to tell us about Jesus in both his
differences as in his similarities. Just as Jesus never grabbed a gun and said,
“Get off my lawn!” He never succumbs to any of the temptations Samson engages.
Jesus is pure in every way. Jesus is the only perfect Nazarite in the
Scriptures. (There are only three, and the first one (Samson) breaks his vow with
impunity.) Samson destroys his enemies. Jesus saves His. Jesus doesn’t die with
His enemies, He dies for them. In other words, if you really want to understand
Samson, you have to let him point you toward Jesus Christ in every way. When
Samson sins to fulfill his lusts, we praise Jesus Christ who denied Himself
every sinful pleasure that He might die to free us from sin and Satan.
To describe
this concept theologians speak of our knowledge of God being apophatic and kataphatic. Kataphatic knowledge is knowing God by what He is. Apophatic knowledge is knowing
God by what He is not. For
example, when the Bible says that God is Father it means that He embodies all
of the positive traits we normally associate with fatherhood. He is the perfect
Father. He is exactly what a perfect father is to be. That’s kataphatic
knowledge. When someone’s father is abusive or absent, or unfaithful, or
inadequate, we know that God is not like them in any of these ways. That’s
apophatic knowledge.
You can find
both kinds of knowledge in the Bible and from popular culture. Often people
have asked me where I get all my stories for sermons. It’s simple—all of life
attests to the truth of the Gospel kataphatically and apophatically. Because
art cannot escape the timeless truths of God, it is always interacting with
truth. That’s why thinking Christians cannot go to the movies, or watch Netflix,
or read novels, or turn on the TV without seeing glimpses of truth and pictures
of Jesus. Indeed, that’s what living an examined life is all about!
This week in
a message entitled, “Jesus, the Greater Samson” we are going to examine Samson
in order to see Jesus. In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to
consider the following:
1. As you read
Judges 13-16 what similarities and differences do you see between Samson and
Jesus?
2. Why would
one of the greatest biblical scholars of the 20th Century say that
Samson is the greatest “type” or portrait of Jesus in the Old Testament?
3. Who are the
Philistines?
4. Why does the
Lord deliver Israel into their hands for 40 years?
5. What
parallels can you find in Judges 13:2-3 between the birth of Samson and the
birth of Jesus?
6. What
significance is there in the name Manoah?
7. What is a
Nazirite and why is that significant in the life of Samson and Jesus? (Who is
the 2nd Nazirite in the Bible? There are only 3.)
8. The deliverance
of Israel from the Philistines spans 40 years from Samson to whom?
9. How can
someone who is as big a failure as Samson be a portrait of Jesus Christ?
10. What are the
striking similarities and differences between the death of Samson and the death
of Jesus?
