Third Monday in Advent
Numbers 24:2-7,15-17a; Psalm 25:3-8; Matthew 21:23-27
"We do not know." In today's Gospel the elders of the Temple will not commit to what they believe. They do know, they know what they think, but they want to play it safe. They want to follow the polls, to appear to lead while listening for what is safe rather than what is true. Today they would have a team of public opinion testers working for them.
"We do not know." Sometimes people ask us questions about the future of the Companions, and our answer is "we don't know." Will we be open only to Episcopalians? Only to women as vowed members? Where might we go in the future, and what sorts of ministries might develop? We don't know. And people find that refreshing, that we would venture into unknown territory and not force an answer. We find it refreshing and invigorating ourselves.
There are different sorts of not knowing. I love today's psalm, especially v. 4 in the BCP translation: "lead me in your truth and teach me." Not knowing here leads me to trust in God, to open myself to guidance. The other sort of not knowing is really not "not knowing" at all; it's a refusal to know, to say, to speak the truth. As a result, it's a refusal to be led in the truth and taught.
The determination to stay vague in order to protect myself is always doomed to fail. My ego may think it's protection, but that vagueness throws a fog between myself and God, and between me and others. That vagueness is a lie.
In today's first reading, the prophet Balaam keeps blessing Israel in spite of the anger of Balak, the king who ordered him to curse them. He cannot resist speaking the truth that God has given him. It's worth going back to chapter 22 and reading the whole encounter. Finally, unwillingly, Balaam lets God lead him in truth and teach him. It takes a flaming angel and a talking donkey to get him to speak the truth.
Pray today to be led, to be taught, to know and speak the truth. And look for talking donkeys!
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