Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
December 19, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121923.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we summon the Redeemer with the title, “O Root of Jesse”. Our readings, rich with biblical tradition, sculpt an image of Christ as an omnipotent radical Presence who alters the course of time.
To clarify that image for us, our readings first offer Samson, a prototype of Jesus in these ways:
- surprising birth
- announced by an angel
- a Nazarite and righteous man
- core figure in Israel’s deliverance
- God-rooted strength
Samson by Norman Rockwell,
commissioned by Cecil B. Moore
for the film Samson and Delilah (1947)
The woman went and told her husband,
Judges 13: 6-9
“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;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
The Church gives us this reading about Samson today so that we can focus on these characteristics of the Messiah whom Samson foreshadows.
Praying with those images, I remember an amazing tree I once saw in South Carolina. My friend Mike, a proud South Carolinian with a mellow drawl and a matching hospitality, suggested that we take a short ride from Charleston to visit a remarkable treasure (and to enjoy a Gullah dinner on the way home!).
The Angel Oak Park is located on Johns Island where you can find what is known as “A Lowcountry Treasure”. The Southern Live Oak tree is a historical site and focal point of one of the City of Charleston’s public parks. It is considered to be the largest Live Oak Tree east of the Mississippi estimated to be 300 to 400 years old. The Angel Oak receives approximately 400,000 visitors each year. The tree is 65 feet high with a circumference of 25.5 feet, shading an area of 17,000 square feet.
https://www.charleston-sc.gov/153/Angel-Oak
The tree is breathtaking. Being in its presence at once propels us back centuries while convincing us that life endures forever into the future. Standing in its expansive shade, we sense the immeasurable rootedness underfoot, and implacable steadfastness proven in storm.
The tree suggests, although it does not possess, the eternal steadfastness of God. With that suggestion, we are inspired to pray under its silent branches.
Such is the power of Samson in today’s reading. We are reminded and foretold, before Christmas Day, of the omnipotence of our longed-for Redeemer so that we may be more open to the surprising graces he will bring.
The Angel’s Visit to Zechariah – Luis Paret y Alcazar
Fittingly, our Gospel gives us another kind of angel, a real one – not a tree. This angel comes and nearly shocks the tonsils out of Zechariah, another good and righteous man. In his imposed silence, Zechariah hears a description of his son and of the coming Christ. The description is rich with images no doubt familiar from Zechariah’s long life of scripture study. Maybe, as he listens, he thinks of Samson and all the long lineage now tied into his own bloodline!
With the angel’s word Zechariah is given the gift of his own kind of nine-month spiritual pregnancy – one in which to let those images mature in him like the burgeoning of a faith-filled tree.
As we pray with these scriptures today, what angels and images visit us to prepare us for the rebirth of Christ in our hearts?
Poetry: Song of Zechariah (Luke 1:59-79) – Irene Zimmerman, OSF
At the circumcision of his son,
relatives and neighbors came
to speak for Zechariah of the tied
tongue. The child, they concurred,
would bear his worthy father's name.
But during her husband's silence,
old Elizabeth had found her voice.
"His name will be John," she said.
Why this strange, unprecedented choice,
the relatives and neighbors wondered.
Armed with writing instrument,
back they went to poor, dumb Zechariah.
But during the long confinement,
as young Mary and Elizabeth
spoke about the missions of their sons,
he had listened and grown wise.
Straightaway, he wrote, "His name is John."
he caught Elizabeth's smiling eyes,
felt his old tongue loosen, found his voice,
sang of God's tender mercy,
sang of the breaking dawn,
sang of the prophet, their son,
who would make straight the way
for the long-awaited One.
Music: Sacred Silence – Lyrics by Tom Booth, Jenny Pixler, and Anthony Kuner
Lavish Mercy 