Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
December 17, 2020
Daily reading from the USCCB: Genesis 49:2, 8-10
During these last days before Christmas, the first readings in the Eucharistic liturgy are more sharply focused on the coming of the Messiah. They illuminate what God’s people were looking forward to. They highlight the hope of God’s people.
Today’s First Reading shows us the patriarch Jacob on his death bed distributing blessings to his twelve sons–handing out futures to them, as it were. Judah is promised a particularly brilliant future. The passage foretells the supremacy of the tribe of Judah which would find its fulfillment in the dynasty of King David and ultimately in the son of David–Jesus.
The whole history of God’s people is centered in the tribe of Judah–Jesus’ tribe. It is he that we all look forward to.
