Judges 13:1-25

A few years back, in 2013, Josh Gordon had an incredible season. The athletic and very talented wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns accumulated the most receiving yards in the league that season (and for those of us who care about these things, the most fantasy points!). What made this feat so impressive was that Josh Gordon didn’t compile these stats playing with an elite quarterback. Instead, over the course of the season, he was thrown to by a combination of Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer and Brandon Weeden! If you know Football and you recognize the names, you know that’s not a good combo. And if you don’t recognize the names, let’s just say there’s a reason for that. I think it would be fair to say that not many teams in the entire league had worse quarterback play. And yet, Josh Gordon finished the season with the most receiving yards, despite ranking only 12th in receptions, due to averaging almost 20yds per reception. It was an incredible season, made even better by the fact that he was on my fantasy team.

Unfortunately, Josh Gordon missed most of the next season through suspension for violating the league’s drug policy during the offseason. The following off season, he violated that policy again—this time getting himself kicked out of the league. He was eligible to apply for reinstatement this season, and just got conditionally reinstated, so we’ll have to see if he can make better choices this time.

Such incredible talent—I mean can you imagine what he could do with a good quarterback??

The reality is though, Potential is not enough! Potential needs to be taken and turned into results. And the failure to do that is the essence of the Samson story. We all know the potential was there! And while you’re all probably thinking about his super-human strength, the truth is that the potential is actually most clearly seen in the preparation, in the birth narrative. We’re kicking off Samson this week, and he doesn’t even feature in today’s story, apart from one verse at the very end of the chapter!

Samson is special! Samson gets the best preparation of any of the Judges. In fact, Samson’s preparation ranks up there among the best of scripture. Not many people get a birth narrative—I mean it’s pretty good just making it into the bible, never mind everyone looking forward to your birth!

Moses gets a bit of a birth narrative, although there’s no angel visit and most of the story is about him surviving after he’s born.

Isaac gets a significant and similar birth narrative, when the 3 angels visit Abraham and Sarah and promise them a son.

Samuel gets a bit of a birth narrative, although again no angels visit Hannah. However she does pray earnestly for a son, which is a very positive thing and something to keep in the back of your minds as we get into the story.

And Jesus who, obviously gets a pretty good birth narrative, complete with angelic visitation and the promise of deliverance.

In fact, Samson’ birth narrative contains many similarities to Jesus’ own: the angelic visitation, the announcement of a miracle child and the promise that he will be a Savior, a deliverer.

I know we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves, since we haven’t even got into the text yet, but think of this as your preparation (just like Samson’s), giving you greater potential as we unpack this first part of his story. These are key themes and ideas to keep in mind as events start to unfold. By the time the birth narrative is over, expectations are high!

If you’re into Star Wars, think about Anakin Skywalker (the boy). When they first find Anakin, they are so excited; the Force is practically oozing out of this kid (sorry Star Wars people—probably not the right way to describe it!) and their expectations for who he is and what he could become are through the roof. Samson is the same.

So lets jump into the story before I get too carried away!

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so t