The readings of Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent (Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1:5-25) address how a barren woman could be blessed by God to conceive and give birth to a child. In the First Reading (Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a), such a child is Samson, and in the Gospel Reading (Luke 1:5-25), John the Baptist.
When the angel of the Lord announced their miraculous
conceptions, respectively, it was made clear that these children would be born
to serve God as nazirites for His salvific missions.
To the mother of Samson, the angel of the Lord said:
Though you are barren and have had no
children, you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to drink no
wine or beer and to eat nothing unclean, for you will conceive and bear a son.
No razor shall touch his head, for the boy is to be a nazirite for God from the
womb. It is he who will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines
(Judges 13:3-5).
To Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, the
angel of the Lord said:
Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your
prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall
name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his
birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither
wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his
mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord
their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the
hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of
the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord
(Luke 1:13-17).
Nazirites are those who are consecrated to the Lord, setting
themselves aside from the rest of people, to devote themselves to holiness.
This is why they abstain from strong drinks, grapes, wine, all other grape
products, citing hairs, and coming closer to the dead (Numbers 6:2-7). And
their consecrated lives are governed by Numbers 6:1-21.
Both Samson’s mother and John the Baptist’s mother,
were barren. But God blessed these barren women with children respectively. And
the blessings came with a condition to consecrate as nazirites and to serve the
Lord. For Samson, his service was to save Israel from the power of the
Philistines. For John the Baptist, it was to be the forerunner of Christ,
making the way of the coming of Christ, by turning the Israelites’ hearts from
sins to God.
Then, why did God bless barren women with children to
serve His mission for Israel as nazirites?
It was because God wanted His first chosen nation,
Israel, from the Philistines for bringing Samson out of a barren woman and to make
the way of His only begotten Son to be sent to save not only Israel but the whole
world from the darkness of sin and Satan’s power.
Samson was one of the 15 judges in the Old Testament,
of which 13 are described in the Book of Judges, during the period of Israel’s
settlement in Canaan from Joshua’s conquest of the land and the establishment
of the monarchy. Samson was one of the last 3 judges of the 12 mentioned in the
Book of Judges. Being a judge, Samson’s mission was to administer God’s justice
for Israel. For his mission, it was to save Israel from the Philistinian threat
and attack.
In Israel’s historical sequence, Samson was one of the
15 judges to prepare the way for David, who was anointed by Samuel on be half
of God as king of Israel, upon the failure of Saul, who was the first king of
Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
On the other hand, God blessed Elizabeth, a barren
wife of Zechariah, a priest of the division of Abijah (Luke 1:5). And his
mother, Elizabeth, hailed from the line of Aaron, the first priest of Israel
(Luke 1:5; Exodus 28:1-3). It took place when Israelites were governed by the
Roman Empire, which set up Herod the Great, a tyrannical king, as their ruler
(Luke 1:5). Though he was Jew, Herod was not Davidic. It was the Roman Senate
that made Herod king of the Jews, as a way for the Romans to rule the
Israelites. Given this historical back ground, the birth of John the Baptist
signaled the coming of the prophesized Davidic King as Christ. So, John was
born to serve as the forerunner of Christ the Davidic King to rune not just
Israel but all nations on earth.
Then, what followed the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist by the angel of the Lord was the annunciation of the conception and the birth of Christ the Davidic King to Mary the Blessed Virgin and the Immaculate Conception:
Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be
great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him
the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the
child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth,
your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth
month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God
(Luke 1:28,30-33, 35-37).
When God wills to save His people, a barren woman will
conceive a child. And this child is consecrated to serve Him and His mission.
For Samson to be conceived and be born, it was out of God’s will to save His
beloved nation, Israel, from the Philistine power. When He let Elizabeth
conceive with and give birth to John the Baptist, it was to prepare the way of the
coming of His only begotten Son, the Christ. This is why God made a Nazarene
virgin, Mary, conceive with His Son, incarnated through her immaculate flesh by
the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the Son, the Christ, the Davidic King, would
be born to save us from the bonds of sin and destroy Satan and all his servants.
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