Mondays 4 Men

You remember Samson? he's got a pretty impressive masculine resume: killed a lion with his bare hands, pummeled and stripped thirty Philistines when they used his wife against him, and finally, after they burned her to death, he killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. Not a guy to mess with. But if you notice, all of these events happened when "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him"? I am not advocating a a sort of "macho man" image. I'm not saying we all head off to the gym and then to kick dirt in the faces of wimpy Pharisees. I am wanting to rescue us from a very mistaken image we have of God - especially of Jesus - and therefore of men as his image-bearers.

What kind of God do you want to find in the bible? To Job - who has questioned God's strength, he says:

Do you give the horse his strength

or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

Do you make him leap like a locust,

striking terror with his proud snorting?

He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength,

and charges into the fray.

He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;

he does not shy away from the sword.

he quiver rattles against his side,

along with the flashing spear and lance.

In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground,

he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, "Aha!"

He catches the scent of battle from afar,

the shout of commanders and the battle cry. (Job 39:19-25)

In the Garden of Gesthemane, in the dead of night, a mob of thugs "carrying torches, lanterns and weapons" comes to take Christ away. Note the cowardice of it - why didn't they take him during the light of day, down in the town? Does Jesus shrink back in fear? No, he goes to face them head-on.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"

"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.

"I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.

Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?"

And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

"I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." (John 18:4-8)

Talk about strength. The sheer force of Jesus' bold presence knocks the whole posse over. Jesus was not a pale-faced altar boy with his hair parted in the middle, speaking softly, avoiding confrontation, who at last gets himself killed because he has no way out. He works with wood, commands the loyalty of his friends. He is the Lord of hosts, captain of angel armies. And when Christ returns, he is at the head of a dreadful company, mounted on a white horse, with a double-edged sword, his robe dripped in blood (Revelations 19). Now does that sound more like Mother Teresa or William Wallace?

No question about it - there is something fierce in the heart of God. Therefore, shouldn't there be something fierce in the heart of a MAN after God's heart?