Jesus, our righteousness and our peace
December 17, 2022 - Saturday, 3rd Week of Advent
Psalm 72:1-4ab, 7-8, 17
There are three promises in the Old Testament. The promise of numerous descendants and a place to live in given to Abraham and the promise of a righteous king given to God’s people through the prophets. The first two seemed fulfilled when Israel entered the promised land and the third one when David became the king of Israel. But, soon the story tells us that the kings of Israel, including David, were not perfect, that the enemies nearly destroyed all of Israel and that the remaining population was sent into exile. The reason for that tragic failure was a lack of justice and peace.
Psalm 72 is a prayer for a king that would make justice and peace flourish in the land. We know very well that none of our leaders qualifies. Prophet Isaiah made it clear that this ideal king has to be endowed with a sevenfold spirit: “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness. The spirit of the fear of the LORD (Is 11:2-3, LXX). Moreover, this king cannot judge “on the basis of repute or convict on the basis of report” (Is 11:3) like we often see in our world when the powerful get away with their crimes and the poor being put to prison for little offences. This king needs to administer justice to the lowly ones, the afflicted, and the poor. Why to them? Our kings and leaders seem incapable to administer justice to them.
It took a few hundred years for the prayer of the psalmist to be answered. But finally, the ideal king has come and we hear today his genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew. But notice how the life of this ideal king differed from the life of all the kings and leaders we have known. Jesus Christ, the King of the universe, had no place to be born and died like a criminal. He had no army to defend him, no money to bail himself out of the court. He spent his life living like any ordinary Galilean Jew among ordinary Galilean Jews bringing justice to all those afflicted ones who came to him for help. And yet, when our kings and leaders are gone and forgotten, this king shall be worshipped and remembered forever. “May his name be eternal” (Ps 72:17). The name of Jesus is eternal and by invoking this name, all the people of the earth are blessed (Ps 72:17).
The psalmist prays: “May he rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Ps 72:8). At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we hear, the risen Christ stating: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Jesus, who defeated our last enemy, death, who saved us from the power of darkness, and given us new and everlasting life, reigns to ends of the earth over the hearts of those who put their trust in him. He is our righteousness and our peace.