Saturday in Advent

2Verse 2. Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. 3Verse 3. The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4Verse 4. Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5Verse 5. For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6Verse 6. So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7Verse 7. But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’” 8Verse 8. Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.” 9Verse 9. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10Verse 10. The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!” 11Verse 11. So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am, ” he said. 12Verse 12. Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?” 13Verse 13. So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her. 14Verse 14. She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” 15Verse 15. “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.” 16Verse 16. And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD. 17Verse 17. Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?” 18Verse 18. “Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the LORD, “since it is beyond comprehension?” 19Verse 19. Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing. 20Verse 20. When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. 21Verse 21. And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD. 22Verse 22. “We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!” 23Verse 23. But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.” 24Verse 24. So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

40Verse 40. On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.” 41Verse 41. Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Verse 42. Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? ” 43Verse 43. So there was division in the crowd because of Jesus. 44Verse 44. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him. 45Verse 45. Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?” 46Verse 46. “Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered. 47Verse 47. “Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees. 48Verse 48. “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? 49Verse 49. But this crowd that does not know the law— they are under a curse.” 50Verse 50. Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked, 51Verse 51. “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?” 52Verse 52. “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.”