15 December 2025
Recognizing the King when He comes
Advent continues to move us forward
not by sentiment,
but by promise.
And today’s readings bring us deeper into the long, patient way God prepares His people
to recognize the One who is coming.
The first reading is one many people don’t expect during Advent. It comes from the Book of Numbers,
from the mouth of a man named Balaam…
and Balaam is not an Israelite prophet.
He is a pagan diviner,
hired by Israel’s enemies to curse them.
In other words,
he is the last person we would expect to speak God’s truth.
And yet,
that is exactly how God works.
Balaam is brought to look down on Israel as they camp in the wilderness.
And instead of cursing them,
the Spirit of God comes upon him,
and he speaks a blessing;
more than that,
a prophecy:
“I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob.”
For ancient Israel,
this image of a star was unmistakable.
Stars were symbols of kingship.
To say a star would rise from Jacob
was to say that a ruler, a king
chosen by God,
would one day arise from among the people.
This text became one of the foundations of Israel’s messianic hope.
What makes this moment so striking is that it comes before Israel has a king,
before David,
before Jerusalem,
before the Temple.
God plants the promise early,
long before its fulfillment is visible.
That’s important for Advent.
Advent teaches us that God often speaks His promises long before we can recognize them.
He forms hope in us
before we see how it will unfold.
Balaam sees the promise “not now… not near.”
And yet it is real.
God is already at work.
Then we turn to the Gospel, and suddenly
the promised king is no longer distant.
Jesus has entered Jerusalem.
He has cleansed the Temple.
He is teaching publicly.
And the chief priests and elders confront Him with a question that sounds religious
but is actually political and defensive:
“By what authority are you doing these things?”
In first-century Judaism, authority mattered.
Teaching was not done casually.
Rabbis taught by citing other rabbis.
Authority was inherited, traced, verified.
The leaders want Jesus to justify Himself within their system.
But Jesus responds with a question of His own about John the Baptist.
Why John?
Because John was the hinge between promise and fulfillment. John stood in the wilderness like the prophets before him,
calling Israel to repentance,
preparing the way of the Lord.
The leaders had refused to commit themselves to John
because doing so would have required conversion.
And here is the tension of Advent revealed:
The question is not whether God has spoken.
The question is whether we are willing to recognize Him when He does.
Jesus exposes their hesitation.
They are afraid of the truth.
They are afraid of the crowd.
They are afraid of what obedience would cost them.
So they answer,
“We do not know.”
A pitiful answer.
And Jesus, in effect, says:
If you will not listen to the witnesses God has already sent,
you will not recognize the One standing before you.
This is Advent’s warning and invitation.
The star promised in Numbers has risen.
The king has come into His city.
But recognition requires humility.
The leaders knew the Scriptures.
They knew Balaam’s prophecy.
They knew the promises.
But knowledge alone does not produce faith.
Only openness does.
Advent asks us the same question Jesus asked them…
not in words,
but in reality:
Do we really want God to act…
or only on our terms?
Do we want the Messiah…
or just a confirmation of what we already believe?
The tragedy is not that the leaders questioned Jesus.
The tragedy is that they were unwilling to be changed by Him.
Advent prepares us to avoid that mistake.
The promise has been spoken.
The star has risen.
The King is near.
The only question that remains is whether we will recognize His authority…
not because He explains Himself to us,
but because God has already borne witness.