First Reading - Judges 13:2-25
Gospel - Luke 1:5-25
The first reading draws our attention to the barrenness of Manoah's wife. God raises a great judge in the person of Samson from the barren woman. This was the exhibition of the power of God and the assurance of liberation from the suppression of Philistines. God invites the people of Israel to keep their trust and hope in Him, for He is almighty and able to do impossible.
The gospel is another narration of a great event in the history; the birth of John the baptizer from a barren woman, Elizabeth.Today’s Gospel describes how Zechariah got the Divine message from the archangel Gabriel, in the Holy of Holies, in the Temple of Jerusalem while he was offering incense. Zechariah was one of the 1800 priests serving the Temple of Jerusalem. They were divided into 24 groups of 75 each. Thirty priests of each group were to serve the Temple for worship services each day and only one of them got the rare chance of offering incense inside the Holy of Holies. It was while performing this priestly function that Zechariah received the vision of the angel and was given the message about him having a son in his old age. Zechariah was given, as the sign he demanded, a temporary punishment of muteness for his lack of Faith in God’s message delivered by Gabriel.
Dear friends, Jesus is called Immanuel which means God-with-us. If he is with us, then how can he leave us alone when we undergo hard or tough times of our lives? The readings display two very similar state of barrenness once experienced by two women. Being barren was seen as disgrace or punishment from God and people looked down upon. Such contempt can only depress a person. The birth of Samson and birth of John the Baptist show that God is the almighty and nothing is impossible with Him, but we need to trust Him. Zachariah, though he was a priest, but failed to trust in the message of the angel, and he had to undergo divine punishment. What God demands from us is to remain ever hopeful and never lose trust in Him. God sees our miseries of lives but He also paves ways to lessen the pain of our miseries, just as He did for the people of Israel by raising Samson from a barren woman to liberate people from the oppression of Philistines. He never leaves us in miseries to die but shows the ways to overcome them, provided we trust Him and remain hopeful. May God always fill us with His grace to experience His presence in our lives.
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