Right at the outset we are told something of the character
of the two women, they are prostitutes.
One tells her story, that they had both had babies within three days of
one another, and the other woman rolled over on her own child in the night,
killing it, and then took the dead child and switched it with her child. The other woman objects and says simply, the
dead one is yours, the living one is mine.
Solomon’s solution is simple and elegant, threaten to divide the baby
and the true mother will not allow it. The
rabbis presume that Solomon knew by divine insight which woman was the true
mother and that in the arguments presented the other had revealed this and her
character in such a way that he knew the truth. The solution depended on the
hardness of heart that says if I can’t have a baby of my own, it is unfair that
you can. The rabbinic interpretation is
that Solomon knew how this was going to go, and that the “test” was simply so
that the truth was then available for all to see.
Jesus gives four prophetic words. First, concerning where
they will have the Passover meal. He
tells the disciples to go into town and there they will be met by a man
carrying a water jar, and they are to follow this man, who is a servant, to his
master’s house and there they will make inquiry concerning where the “Teacher”
may have the meal with his disciples.
That is a very clear picture of what they are to look for and expect and
it seems this is exactly what happened.
Next, Jesus says one of them will betray Him and they are all sad,
sorting out which one. Apparently none
of them had the revelation given to Solomon in the first reading, as it doesn’t
look as if they had a clue who the person might be. Next, Jesus re-interprets the symbols of the
Passover meal to be His body and blood rather than the body of the lamb and the
wine is His blood, that purchases our freedom, His death is the key to life. These symbols won’t mean anything until after
the crucifixion so these words are prophetic.
Finally, Jesus predicts Peter’s denial.
The sailors are surreptitiously preparing to abandon the
ship. The pretense is letting down
anchors but they are really lowering the ship’s boat to allow them to escape.
Paul gives yet another prophetic word, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you
cannot be saved.” Now, after evidence
that perhaps Paul does have a direct line to the Almighty, the soldiers believe
and cut away the lines, letting the boat float away. Can’t you just see Paul then in the midst of
this chaos, a la Jonah, urging them to eat and take nourishment and then
celebrating this meal by giving thanks to God, breaking and eating? It seems utterly ridiculous but there he is,
doing something completely commonplace at the strangest time, an act of pure
faith. How they are all brought safely
to land in the end is a miracle only God could do and he told Paul about it
first.
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