The first reading today probably strikes you as an odd one to choose leading up to Christmas – at least until you arrive at the final verse of the reading: “A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel” (Num 24:17). I suspect most people read that and think, “Oh, makes sense now, Balaam is talking about the Star of Bethlehem.” Maybe. Let’s consider the backstory that brings us to this verse.
Continue readingThe Season of Advent offers us readings that begin with apocalyptic scenes of Jesus’ prediction of the coming destruction of the Temple and the signs of “end times.” It is a gospel taken from Holy Week and seemed a bit out of place in Advent. But one message of the readings was “pay attention” for the signs of a promised age to come. The Season of Advent is a season in preparation of the “three comings of Christ” – in history past with his birth in Bethlehem, in history future at his second coming, and in the present at our reception of Him into our hearts. The gospels for Advent have moved us from the promise of a Messiah to the herald’s ministry of announcing his arrival via John the Baptist in the readings from the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of Advent. We then come to the 4th Sunday of Advent in lectionary cycle C. Continue reading
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