During Advent it is easy to suffer from Isaiah burnout. But today, the Church gives us a bit of relief with a passage from the Book of Numbers. While we’re more inclined to think of Exodus, Leviticus, and even Deutronomy when discussing the Pentateuch, Numbers is also one of the Bibe’s first five books.
Like the Advent readings from Isaiah, generally, our reading from Numbers is a prophecy about the Messiah, who, as Christians, we recognize as Jesus Christ. Specifically, this is found at the end of Balaam’s second oracle:
I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel1In our Gospel, John the Baptist comes up again, as he is wont to do during this season. Over time, especially in the Western Church, the Baptist has been greatly reduced in status. Both historically and still today in most Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, John retains his rightful place. We tend to view him functionally, thus failing to recognize the uniqueness of his divine call, which, while not identical with, is like Mary’s unique call.
Yesterday, in our Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent, Jesus says of John that he is more than a prophet and that of women there has been born no one greater than him.2 Both of these glowing praises are attributable to John’s unique role as the Messiah’s precursor. It is the Lord himself who affirms the Baptist as the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.3
Balaam Blesses Israel
In Jesus’ response to those who question His authority, the Baptist’s popularity is brought into bold relief. The people seemed certain that John was sent by God and acted with divine authority. We know from our reading that those haranguing Jesus didn’t believe this. Now, this itinerant from backwards Galilee was teaching like John and gathering a following.
Instead of teaching by the Jordan in the desert east of Jerusalem, Jesus was teaching in the very precincts of the Temple! Quelle horreur! Of course, the irony is that those harassing Jesus, while willing to tacitly acknowledge John’s authority, fail to recognize Jesus’ divinity.
Jesus, in concert with the Father and the Holy Spirit, acts on His own authority. Since His interlocuters have no eyes to see or ears to hear, He does not explicitly tell them, “I am the Son of God in the flesh.”
Far from being a blind leap, faith is a form of knowledge, knowledge of divine mysteries. Theologically, a mystery is something known because God has revealed it. The mystery for which Advent serves as preparation, if we let it (something that takes no little determination and effort) isn’t just the mystery of God in Christ, “the mystery hidden from ages and generation past” and has “now been manifested to the holy ones…”4 It is the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope for glory.”5
1 Numbers 24:17.↩
2 See Matthew 11:9-11.↩
3 See Matthew 11:10; Malachi 3:1.↩
4 Colossians 1:26.↩
5 Colossians 1:27.↩
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