December 15, 2025
Monday of the Third Week of
Advent
Lectionary: 187
Reading
1
When Balaam raised
his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe,
the spirit of God came upon him,
and he gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of a man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled:
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob;
your encampments, O Israel!
They are like gardens beside a stream,
like the cedars planted by the LORD.
His wells shall yield free-flowing waters,
he shall have the sea within reach;
His king shall rise higher,
and his royalty shall be exalted.
Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of the man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled.
I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a staff shall rise from Israel.
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
R.(4) Teach
me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Show us, LORD, your love,
and grant us your salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When Jesus had
come into the temple area,
the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him
as he was teaching and said,
"By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me,
then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.
Where was John's baptism from?
Was it of heavenly or of human origin?"
They discussed this among themselves and said,
"If we say 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say to us,
'Then why did you not believe him?'
But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we fear the crowd,
for they all regard John as a prophet."
So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know."
He himself said to them,
"Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121525.cfm
Commentary on
Numbers 24:2-7,15-17
Today’s first reading is from the book of Numbers. It is
from that part of the Bible (the five books of the Pentateuch) which deals with
the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law to Moses, the long trek through
the desert for 40 years and the settling in to the Promised Land.
In today’s reading, the Israelites are close to reaching
their destination, but understandably, their arrival is not welcomed by those
already in possession of these lands. The reading features the strange
character of Balaam. He was a prophet or diviner from Pethor, near the River
Euphrates in Mesopotamia. He had been asked by Balak, king of the Moabites, to
put a curse on the invading Israelites. Babylonia was renowned in those times
for divination.
Although he was in Jewish terms a non-believer, not one of
God’s people, Balaam does not seem to be able to carry out his mission, much to
the surprise of Balak. Instead, he becomes an instrument of God’s plan. The
author of Numbers puts four oracles in the mouth of Balaam and we have two of
them, the third and fourth, in today’s reading. They are inserted rather
artificially into the narrative with which they do not seem to have a direct
connection.
Our reading opens by telling us that Balaam sees the
Israelites, encamped according to their tribes. He then speaks, but the
implication is that the words are not his own, and certainly not what he was
expected to say. He describes himself as a “man whose eye is clear”, as “one
who hears the word of God” and “who sees the vision of the Almighty” (from the
Hebrew Shaddai), “with eyes uncovered”.
Earlier in the chapter (not in our reading), there had been
the strange experience with his donkey. On his way to curse the Israelites, the
donkey suddenly stopped and refused to go further because the way was blocked
by an angel of the Lord. Even though he beat the animal severely, it refused to
go forward. Eventually God spoke through the mouth of the donkey, and Balaam’s eyes
were suddenly opened to the presence of God before him. The implication is that
even Balaam’s donkey could see better than he could.
The words that flow from Balaam’s mouth speak in high praise
of Israel and of its prosperous future:
How fair are your tents, O Jacob….
Like palm groves that stretch far away,
like gardens…like aloes…like
cedar trees beside the waters.
Here is an image of the “land flowing with milk and honey”
which Yahweh had promised earlier. The lushness of their new home is
reminiscent of the fertility and peace of Eden.
The oracle continues:
…his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.
Agag, representing the Amalekite kings, will give way to a
greater king from Israel, perhaps indicating Saul, Israel’s first king, whose
victory over King Agag is described in the First Book of Samuel (chap 15). Or
it may be a reference to Saul’s successor, David. In any case, it leads us on
to the second part of today’s reading, which contains the fourth oracle of
Balaam.
Much of this oracle is a repetition of the previous one.
Balaam, being now able to see and now able to hear the word of God, is endowed with
knowledge passed on to him by God. It is a statement which looks to the future,
to a time when Israel will rule over the kingdoms on the east side of the
Jordan—Moab and Edom—a prophecy realised under the reign of David. And what
Balaam sees is leadership emanating from Israel. He says a “star shall come out
of Jacob”, referring most directly to David.
But this oracle also points to the expected Messianic ruler
who will bring the ultimate victory over the enemies of God’s people:
…a star shall come out of Jacob, and a
scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the foreheads of Moab
and the heads of all the Shethites
And in that star, we clearly recognise Jesus, the One truly
chosen by God as leader not only of Israel, but of the whole world. This is the
star that the Magi followed until they came across the Child in the arms of his
Mother.
The oracle shows how God wants to proclaim a wonderful
future for his people before the whole world, coming from the mouth of a man
who had been specially chosen to bring the curse of the gods on Israel. It is
something we too need to consider. In the Gospel, the chief priests and elders
found it difficult to hear the voice of God in the words and actions of Jesus.
In our lives, too, Jesus can speak to us through very unexpected channels. We
need to be constantly ready and make no exceptions.
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Commentary on
Matthew 21:23-27
As with the First Reading, the Gospel also deals with the
issue of authority. It is clear that the way Jesus used to teach was a source
of disquiet among many of the Jewish religious leaders. They approach him one
day in the Temple and ask him:
By what authority are you doing these things, and who
gave you this authority?
Jesus seldom directly answers provocative questions put to
him, and in this case—as he does elsewhere—he answers with a question of his
own. If they will answer his question, he will answer theirs.
His question is:
Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of
human origin?
Immediately, his questioners are in a dilemma. If they
answer “from heaven” (i.e. divine), they will be further asked why they did not
receive John’s baptism. We know that when John was baptising, they came to
observe, but they themselves clearly felt no need to be baptised themselves. To
do so would have been to put themselves on the same level as the sinful and the
unclean.
If they were to answer “human”, then they would run the risk
of offending the people who had no doubts about the matter. They all held that
“John was a prophet”. Lamely they answer, “We do not know.” So Jesus refuses to
reply to their question.
Ultimately the leaders were being accused of a stubborn
blindness, unable and unwilling to see the hand of God either in the mission of
Jesus or of John. They could not see that the authority with which Jesus spoke
clearly resided in himself. He was not just the bearer of a message—he was
himself the source of the message.
Perhaps a word about “authority” may be relevant here. The
word comes from the Latin auctoritas, which is itself an abstract
noun from the verb augere. Augere means “to
increase, make bigger”. We find the same verb in the word “author”.
A person with ‘authority’ is not just someone who wields
coercive power over others. The exercise of genuine authority is not to
control or keep in line. On the contrary, it is to be an agent in releasing the
potential that is in people, to be an empowering agent. Jesus did not wield
coercive authority. He invited people to follow him and he came to serve, not
be served. He came to lead people into the full development of all they could
be and were meant to be.
He did this dramatically when he got down on his knees and
washed the feet of his disciples. This was an act of authority—the authority of
outreaching love. It is up to each one to decide whether to follow the way of
love or to go one’s own way.
Perhaps each one of us could examine how we exercise authority
in our own lives—as parents, teachers, employers, or in any capacity where we
have some responsibility with regard to others. Very few of us have no
authority at all.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/a1032g/
Monday,
December 15, 2025
3rd Week of
Advent
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
in a world of injustice, war, and
exploitation, in which more and more people have the means to live but not many
reasons to live for, you promise us a star to follow, Jesus, your Son.
God, keep in us the hope alive that he
will come today and that, if we are willing to take the demands of the Gospel
seriously, we can become indeed a new people completely renewed in Christ, our
Savior for ever and ever.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 21: 23-27
Jesus had gone into the Temple and was
teaching, when the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and
said, 'What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave you this
authority?'
In reply Jesus said to them, 'And
I will ask you a question, just one; if you tell me the answer to it, then I
will tell you my authority for acting like this.
John's baptism: what was its origin,
heavenly or human?' And they argued this way among themselves, 'If we say
heavenly, he will retort to us, "Then why did you refuse to believe
him?"; but if we say human, we have the people to fear, for they all hold
that John was a prophet.'
So their reply to Jesus was, 'We do not know.' And he retorted
to them, 'Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.'
Reflection
The Gospel today describes the
conflict that Jesus had with the religious authority of the time, after that he
drove out the merchants from the Temple.
The priests and the elders of the people
wanted to know with which authority Jesus was doing those things: to go into
the Temple and drive out the merchants (cf. Mt 21: 12-13). The authority
considered itself the master of all and thought that nobody could do anything
without their permission. This is why they persecuted Jesus and tried to kill
him. Something similar was also happening in the Christian communities of the
years seventy-eighty, the time in which the Gospel of Jesus was written. Those
who resisted the authority of the Empire were persecuted. There were others, so
as not to be persecuted, tried to reconcile Jesus’ project, with the project of
the Roman Empire (cf. Ga 6: 12). The description of the conflict of Jesus with
the authority of his time was a help for the Christians, so that they could
continue fearless in the persecutions and would not allow themselves to be
manipulated by the ideology of the Empire. Today, also, some who exercise
power, whether in society or in the Church and the family, want to control
everything as if they were the masters of all the aspects of the life of the
people. They even persecuted those who thought in a different way. Keeping in
mind these thoughts and problems, let us read and meditate on today’s Gospel.
•
Matthew 21: 23: The question of the religious
authority to Jesus. “What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave
you this authority?” Jesus answered: “And I will ask you a question, just one,
if you tell me the answer to it, then I will tell you my authority for acting
like this. John’s baptism, what was its origin, heavenly or human? Jesus went
back to the Temple. When he taught, the chief priests and the elders of the
people went close to him and asked: With what authority do you do these things?
Who has given you this authority?” Jesus again goes around the great square of
the Temple. Then appear some priests and elders to question him. After
everything that Jesus had done the day before, they want to know with which
authority he does these things. They did not ask which was the true reason
which urged Jesus to drive out the merchants from the Temple (cf. Mt 21:
12-13). They only ask with which authority he does those things. They think
that they have the right to control everything. They do not want to lose
control of things.
•
Matthew 21: 24-25ª: The question of Jesus to the
authority. Jesus does not refuse answering, but he shows his independence and
liberty and says: “I also, will ask you a question, if you tell me the answer
to it, then I will tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s baptism,
what was its origin, heavenly or human?” This was an intelligent question,
simple as a dove and cunning as a serpent! (cf. Mt 10: 16). The question shows
the lack of honesty of his enemies. For Jesus, the baptism of John came from
heaven, came from God. He himself had been baptized by John (Mt 3: 13-17). The
men who had power, on the contrary, had plotted or planned the death of John
(Mt 14: 3-12). And in this way they showed that they did not accept the message
of John and that they considered his baptism like something from men and not
from God.
•
Matthew 21: 25b-26: Reasoning of the authority.
The priests and the elders were aware of the importance or significance of the
question and reasoned in the following way: "If we say heavenly, he will
retort to us. Then why did you refuse to believe him? If we answer human, then
we have the people to fear, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” And
therefore, so as not to expose themselves they answered: “We do not know!” This
is an opportunist response, a pretence and interested one. Their only interest
was not to lose their power over the people. Within themselves they had already
decided everything: Jesus should be condemned to death (Mt 12: 14).
•
Matthew 21: 27: Final conclusion of Jesus. And
Jesus says to them: “Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.”
Their total lack of honesty makes them unworthyto receive an answer from Jesus.
Personal Questions
•
Have you ever felt that you are being controlled
without any right, by the authority of the house, in work, in the Church? Which
was your reaction?
•
We all have some authority. Even in a
conversation between two persons, each one has certain power, a certain
authority. How do I use the power, how do I exercise authority: to serve and to
liberate or to dominate and control?
Concluding Prayer
Direct me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths.
Encourage me to walk in your truth and teach me since you
are the God who saves me. (Ps 25: 4-5)
