ADVENT STATION 3:
The Angelic Announcement
Old Testament Reading: Judges 13:2-7, 24
THERE WAS A CERTAIN MAN from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean. As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines.” The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me; he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed. I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will be with child and will bear a son. So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, until the day of his death.’” The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him.
Meditation
The Lord prepared the way, moment by moment, for the coming of the Messiah in “the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4). Manoah and his wife, as well as Zechariah and Elizabeth, reveal that God can bring life out of apparent lifelessness—human weakness and insufficiency are not obstacles to the power of his promises. The strength of Samson foretells the even greater strength of Jesus, and the preaching of John the Baptist sets the stage for the Word himself to speak. Samson used his strength to defeat his physical captors, in one time and one place. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance and preparation, but one that did not itself take away sin. Jesus Christ, into whom we are baptized, destroys the ultimate captor in every age—sin and death. Jesus bears salvation in his very self. In the third Advent station we glorify God, infinite and all-powerful, who became small and weak that we might be strong.
New Testament Reading: Luke 1:5-7
IN THE DAYS OF HEROD, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, “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.”
Prayer
All-powerful Father, you prove over and over again that human insufficiency, human barrenness, will not stand in the way of your plan. You reveal to us the source of true strength, true power: Jesus, the Savior. Give us the grace to remain firmly united to him, never seeking the solutions to our problems outside of his love. We desire to live every day of our life devoted to him. May sin and the fear of death never bind us, never keep us from the freedom you promise. And may the grace of our baptism flower into the life of glory with you and all the saints. We ask this through Christ our merciful Lord. Amen
O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny, From depths of hell thy people save And give them vict’ry o’er the grave. Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Excerpts taken from Magnificat. 2023 Magnificat Advent Companion; Magnificat, Inc.
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