The Riddle of Grace
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday’s children’s chat was about riddles. The young kids were asked three riddles. First, what holds water even though it is full of holes? Second, what gets wet when it is drying? And third: When I am filled, I can work or play; when I am empty, I do nothing all day. What am I? Some knew the answers and some did guess a sponge, a towel and gloves. In the spirit of this learning today we take a look at riddles in the Bible and start with Samson’s. Ok, he took honey from the lion’s carcass and then went on to marry his Philistine “honey.” As it turns out what is sweeter than honey and stronger than a lion is love. Check out the riddle below and its deeper meaning. Friends, the amazing thing when we see ourselves in the mirror of this story and the scandal of sin…the amazing thing is that God stuck with Samson, just like He sticks with us and the church and through history with Israel and finally His only begotten Son. Yes God remains faithful. It is The Riddle of Grace.
Scripture: 14Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2Then he came up, and told his father and mother, ‘I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ 3But his father and mother said to him, ‘Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our* people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, because she pleases me.’ 4His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. 6The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. 8After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. 11When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12Samson said to them, ‘Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. 13But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.’ So they said to him, ‘Ask your riddle; let us hear it.’ 14He said to them, ‘Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.’But for three days they could not explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth* day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?’ 16So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, ‘You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.’ He said to her, ‘Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?’ 17She wept before him for the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. 18The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, ‘What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?’ And he said to them, ‘If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.’
Judges 14:1-18 (NRSV)
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ 24Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?”
Matthew 21:23-25
23 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus loved to teach and he used parables and questions which are a lot like riddles. In today’s scripture from Matthew we see how Jesus stumps the chief priests and elders with a riddle. This is important because it gets us involved in figuring out the meaning of the message. Jesus uses an image or a figure of speech and teases the imagination into thought. It begins with a question designed to lead us to an understanding of the heart. Does the Son Judge? Is Jesus subordinate to the Father or his equal? Is Jesus human or divine or both? Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father or the Son? Is the saving work of Christ universal of particular? Is it predestination or free will? Now it could be we are just as contradictory as scripture seems to be or maybe there is another explanation to this extremely important set of tensions. The real questions is why they are being made in the first place? Perhaps here is a language event where something vivid occurs in our thoughts that stimulates our imaginations and the power of God’s grace helping us to discover who we really are with our own set of perplexities and puzzlements. Sometimes the reasoning is descriptive and sometimes prescriptive and still at other times reflective. In today’s scripture from Judges Samson’s quick wit and prankish nature unexpectedly yield a gem of stunning insight. It is a masterpiece of encouragement and hope for times when life gets crazy, seemingly out of control; when one is fighting to survive and the big question is: Why? Many miss it because it is couched in his carefully crafted riddle. He intended to confuse, puzzle and mystify. It worked too. It worked so well that the 30 young men who played Samson’s game of “guess my riddle” were so desperate by week’s end they resorted to menacing measures to get the answer. Under the duress of death from her Philistine countrymen Samson’s fiancée feigned such emotional agony until he reluctantly gave her the solution, which she quickly passed along. This occurs within the setting of a gala week-long celebration in anticipation of the marriage between Samson and a young woman in the Philistine village of Timnath. Recently he had experienced success in overcoming a deadly adversary. He turned that event into an opportunity to challenge the 30 young men, who were appointed to be his groomsmen, to pit their wit against his. The game required them to find a solution to his cleverly concocted riddle. The seeking was the point. Having the right answer just got them killed. So this morning I leave you with a riddle: What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, poor people have it, rich people need it, and if you eat it you will die? Come on kids get this one. The answer nothing. Friends there are a lot of reasons that grace is hard to accept. The thing is that nothing compares to God’s Grace. He can and will forgive us if we repent. It is not about figuring out the puzzle. Love is not a riddle to be solved. And yet it is not so easy for us because we live in a space of Holy History between the darkness of what has been called Good Friday and the tantalizing riddle of the universe opened up on Easter Sunday. Here on Saturday we live with only the hint of the sealing promise of Jesus’ return to extend the cosmic miracle. The point is to engage in the riddle. Not to answer it.
Pray we respond in faith to the promise of life. Pray in the tension of the present with the future we understand the function of the value of a thinking religious community. Pray we realize that like Samson the riddle of our life is born out of our struggle in facing sin and evil. Pray that when we are attacked spiritually that we are doing the will of God. Pray we have a purpose and perspective. Pray we are assisted by the Holy Spirit in times of trouble. Pray the riddle of our life is a testament to the triumph of God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 