Advent Reflection: Monday, December 13
12/13/2021
As Saint Louis University embraces the holiday season, students, faculty and staff members were asked to share reflections on selected readings. Today Magdalena Pereira, senior biomedical engineering student, reflects on Gospel, Matthew 21:23-27.
Reading for Monday, Dec. 13, 2021
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.”
Reflection
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us the way that He wants us to approach Him. The chief priests serve as the counterexample. They want to be the most powerful, and because they see that Jesus exerts some authority that they cannot have, they want to test Him and embarrass Him in front of the crowd. Surprisingly for the priests, Jesus ends up testing the priests by asking them a tricky question. He does not blame them for what they are doing, but rather shows in a wise and creative way that they are not as smart as they think. And more importantly, He does not reveal to them by what authority He acts.
So, here we have a lot going on that can help us prepare ourselves during this time of Advent. Sometimes we behave like the chief priests who think that they know everything, and we approach Jesus as the strongest ones: “Hey, Jesus, I already know that you are God and am an expert of the Advent season, so do not worry about me at all!”. In this way, we act as if we may not need Jesus that much during our daily lives. This Gospel is a great reminder of coming closer to Jesus in humility, in simpleness, recognizing that we need Him as He reveals Himself to the little ones. Jesus also reminds us today that we do not need to know everything. His life and coming to the Earth as the Son of God is a mystery, as well, one that we experience everyday during the Eucharistic Communion.
The Virgin Mary and St. Joseph show us a great example of trusting God’s will in the midst of not understanding completely the nature behind Jesus's nativity in Mary’s womb. Therefore, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to ask Jesus today for the grace to become more little when approaching Him, to open our hearts and weaknesses to let Him dwell in us, and to trust Him. In this way, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the joy of His coming to the world to love us and save us.
-- Magdalena Pereira, senior biomedical engineering student
Newslink will be running select reflections through Advent. All the reflections can be found on the Mission and Identity Facebook page.