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| “Offering of Elijah” by Marc Chagall,1931-39 |
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: 1 Kings 18:20-39
Ahab sent to all the children of
Israel
and had the prophets assemble on
Mount Carmel.
Elijah appealed to all the people
and said,
“How long will you straddle the
issue?
If the LORD is God, follow him; if
Baal, follow him.”
The people, however, did not answer
him.
So Elijah said to the people,
“I am the only surviving prophet of
the LORD,
and there are four hundred and
fifty prophets of Baal.
Give us two young bulls.
Let them choose one, cut it into
pieces, and place it on the wood,
but start no fire.
I shall prepare the other and place
it on the wood,
but shall start no fire.
You shall call on your gods, and I
will call on the LORD.
The God who answers with fire is God.”
All the people answered, “Agreed!”
Elijah then said to the prophets of
Baal,
“Choose one young bull and prepare
it first,
for there are more of you.
Call upon your gods, but do not
start the fire.”
Taking the young bull that was
turned over to them, they prepared it
and called on Baal from morning to
noon, saying,
“Answer us, Baal!”
But there was no sound, and no one
answering.
And they hopped around the altar
they had prepared.
When it was noon, Elijah taunted
them:
“Call louder, for he is a god and
may be meditating,
or may have retired, or may be on a
journey.
Perhaps he is asleep and must be
awakened.”
They called out louder and slashed
themselves with swords and spears,
as was their custom, until blood
gushed over them.
Noon passed and they remained in a
prophetic state
until the time for offering
sacrifice.
But there was not a sound;
no one answered, and no one was
listening.
Then Elijah said to all the people,
“Come here to me.”
When the people had done so, he
repaired the altar of the LORD
that had been destroyed.
He took twelve stones, for the
number of tribes of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the LORD had said, “Your
name shall be Israel.”
He built an altar in honor of the
LORD with the stones,
and made a trench around the altar
large enough for two measures of
grain.
When he had arranged the wood,
he cut up the young bull and laid
it on the wood.
“Fill four jars with water,” he
said,
“and pour it over the burnt
offering and over the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they
did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he said,
and they did it a third time.
The water flowed around the altar,
and the trench was filled with the
water.
At the time for offering sacrifice,
the prophet Elijah came forward and
said,
“LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel,
let it be known this day that you
are God in Israel
and that I am your servant
and have done all these things by
your command.
Answer me, LORD!
Answer me, that this people may
know that you, LORD, are God
and that you have brought them back
to their senses.”
The LORD’s fire came down
and consumed the burnt offering,
wood, stones, and dust,
and it lapped up the water in the
trench.
Seeing this, all the people fell
prostrate and said,
“The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on 1
Kgs 18:20-39
This story from the “Elijah Cycle”
of 1 Kings describes Elijah returning to Israel to confront the people who had fallen
into Baal worship. He proposes a challenge between the false god and the Lord.
The actions of the priests of Baal, the dancing, shouting, and cutting
themselves as part of their prayer ritual are validated by other ancient
Near-Eastern texts as being part of Baal worship.
There is some symbolic language
used in describing the preparation of the altar by Elijah. Specifically the use
of the number three as the altar is drenched in water indicating it was
completely drenched. The result of the test was predictable. God answers Elijah
and the people come back to authentic worship of God.
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab
and 8, 11
R. (1b) Keep
me safe, O God; you are my hope.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take
refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are
you.”
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my
hope.
They multiply their sorrows
who court other gods.
Blood libations to them I will not
pour out,
nor will I take their names upon my
lips.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my
hope.
O LORD, my allotted portion and
cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall
not be disturbed.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my
hope.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand
forever.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my
hope.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab and 8, 11
Psalm 16 is an individual hymn of
praise. The psalmist prays that God will shield the faithful from harm and
expresses confidence in the Lord’s salvation, closing the passage with praise
for God’s loving mercy.
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to
abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to
fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven
and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the
smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of
the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom
of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these
commandments
will be called greatest in the
Kingdom of heaven.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt
5:17-19
Those who believed that Jesus came to destroy
the Jewish faith and laws are refuted in this passage from St. Matthew’s
Gospel. The Lord tells them that he did not come to destroy the law, even
though he disagreed with the way some of those laws were being implemented.
Rather he came to fulfill it, essentially giving the law a reinterpretation
through his own divine revelation.
In this early encounter between Jesus’ mission
and the Law of Moses, we are told that Jesus came to “fulfill” the law, to
bring it to perfection as the Messiah. He supports the rabbinical teaching of
the time, which separates the 613 individual precepts of the law found in the
Pentateuch into “great and small,” based upon their seriousness, when he refers
to breaking the least of the commandments. It is important to understand the
Hebrew view of the Law: "The Law was thought to be the summary of all
wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure
guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations
with God." [4]
The passage is concluded in almost
Mosaic style by saying that those who follow the law will be great in heaven.
This draws a distinction between those who would break the law being least in
heaven in the previous sentence.
CCC: Mt 5:17-19 577,
592, 1967; Mt 5:17 2053
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Heavenly Father, we
humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to
full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be
calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we
pray. – Amen.
When we think about the role of
Elijah, described in part in the reading from the First Book of Kings, we must
see his actions as being prophetic of his counterpart in the time of Jesus, St.
John the Baptist. Elijah calls the people to turn away from worshiping false
Gods and to return to the Lord. St. John comes, as the new Elijah, also calling
the people to turn away from sin and return to the Lord.
The Lord tells us, in St. Matthew’s
Gospel, that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets. In this way, St.
John calls the people to accept the fulfilled the promise of the Lord in
Christ. Jesus does indeed bring to completion the work started at the very
beginning of creation. Throughout the Old Testament there have been stories and
signs that look forward to a time of salvation, when all of the sins of the
people will be washed away. King David, the psalmist, sings laments constantly,
recalling God’s might, the wonders and signs he has performed, and begging for
his continued help in times of need. In Christ this wish is granted. In Christ
the promise is fulfilled. In him, God’s salvation is spread over all peoples of
all nations.
Yet, just as the ancient Jews who
had fallen into worship of Baal, people of our day cannot choose life in
Christ. They cannot accept that the promise was fulfilled. They worship instead
a golden calf of their worldly success. They build altars many stories high to
greed and hedonism.
The Lord calls to us, through
sacred scripture, to continue to challenge these misguided principles and to
put forward, through our words and actions, the Good News of the promise
fulfilled. We pray today for the courage and strength to do so.
In this strange year where many
of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a community
in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual communion in
prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most
Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all
things,
and I desire to receive
You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this
moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually
into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself
wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Offering of Elijah” by Marc
Chagall,1931-39.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible
with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International
Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized
by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., ©
1968, 43:34, p. 70.
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