Monday of the
Third Week of Advent
(Numbers 24:2-17.15-17a; Matthew 21:23-27)
Christians have adopted Balaam’s prophecy in today’s
first reading as referring to Jesus. The
king rising “higher” is Christ. The one
who is to come but “but not now” is the same.
Jews interpret the vision differently.
They understand the one who will have an “exalted” royalty as King David. He is “not near” since he was born several
hundred years after the prophecy.
So why do Christians insist that they have the correct
interpretation? It is because Jesus has
shown that he is the great king who has finally arrived. By all he says and does in his ministry and
most of all by his resurrection from the dead, they know that Jesus reigns forever. As their sovereign, he will protect them from
ultimate harm.
Today’s gospel shows the Jewish leaders trying to trap
Jesus in his words. They refuse to
accept his kingly authority and try to prevent others from following him. We also can withhold belief in Jesus by
quibbling over the proper referent of Balaam’s prophecy or some such
discrepancy in Scripture. But surely the
better alternative is to be like Matthew, the gospel writer, and the Christian community. Accepting Jesus as Lord, we will put
ourselves on a firm foundation of love and justice. We will know the joy of being saved and of having
eternal life as our destiny.
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