Our site uses cookies to improve the user experience and we recommend accepting its use to take full advantage of the navigation

Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Download
Gospel text (Mt 21:23-27): When he 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: "A prophet like Me"

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, intrigued, the high priests and elders question the vigorous and sharp authority displayed by Jesus Christ. Already, in the old times, what the "book of Deuteronomy" promised was not a king of Israel and a king of the world (a new David!), but a "new Moses". Moses himself is interpreted as a "prophet" such as there were only in Israel: not a soothsayer, but someone who could show the face of God, and in so doing, he could show us the path that we have to take.

Also in "Deuteronomy", God promises to Israel "a prophet like me" (Dt 18:15). It was the announcement of something big: a "new Moses". What was truly crucial of Moses —not counting his prodigies— is that he spoke with God, as a friend. But Moses did not behold Gold’s face, but only His "back" (Dt 33:23). The immediate relation of Moses to God —that makes him the great mediator of the Covenant— had its limits.

—Jesus, as the "new Moses", you fully reveal the Father and are the mediator of the New Covenant. This is the origin of Your authority!