Monday of the Third Week of Advent

Lectionary: 187

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!

Balaam was some kind of rascal. Apparently, he was an opportunistic prophet of the pagan sort, who made a living by offering blessings to those who paid well. He could also curse your enemies for a price. 

However, when he was hired to curse the Israelites as they passed through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, he was unexpectedly used by the God of Israel to bless God's people. He had not intended to do that; but every time he opened his mouth, a blessing came out, much to the disappointment of his employer. It's a comical story augmented by his talking ass who was also used by God to warn him what was about to  happen. 

Unworthily blessed -- as we all are -- Balaam saw for a moment as God sees. It was an amazing and wonderful sight; and he could not contain himself when he opened his mouth:

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.

Many centuries later, the Lord will remind his disciples about a similar experience:

But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Mt 13:16)

Advent prepares us for Christmas by purifying our eyes so that we see as God sees and hear as God hears. We will recognize nonsense and we will comprehend more deeply the beauty and holiness of this season. We will appreciate the invitation to go into silence and darkness, and wait there for the star of which Balaam spoke, the star which the Magi saw. 

This will require more than a simple change of perspective; it will be more like a metamorphosis, a death and rebirth from incomprehension to delight, from indifference to gratitude. We have been promised an experience much as the world promises experiences, but the world cannot comprehend this one. They cannot see the God of Heaven and Earth in any human being, much less a baby born to homeless migrants. They cannot hear a man's dying prayer that they be forgiven as an unexpected, undeserved blessing. It's all nonsense to them, and they have more pressing concerns and less satisfying delights. 

Fool though he was, Balaam was wise enough to let himself be used by God. We should be so blessed. And we pray that we will be.