Homily: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Brothers
and sisters, today we encounter once again the great figure of Elijah the
prophet. Elijah is, in fact, the representative
of the whole grouping of Old Testament prophets. We know this because, at the Transfiguration
of Jesus (which the Church commemorated yesterday), Elijah appears with Moses
alongside Jesus in his transfigured glory.
Moses represents the tradition of the Law, while Elijah the tradition of
the Prophets, and their appearance with Jesus at his Transfiguration indicate
that Jesus is the fulfillment of those two great traditions.
Elijah
is the representative of the tradition of the Prophets because of his unique
faithfulness at a time in which God’s chosen people had once again fallen into
worship of pagan idols. In our first
reading today, we find Elijah in flight.
Recently, Queen Jezebel of the northern kingdom of Israel had put to
death nearly all of the prophets of God in her land. Elijah, in response, challenged the pagan
prophets of Baal to a contest in which a sacrifice was offered by each: the
pagan prophets to Baal and Elijah to God.
Whichever god responded by consuming the sacrifice with fire would be
the true, living God whom the people should worship. The Baals failed to respond while the God of
Israel did respond. And so, having won
the contest, Elijah then punished the pagan prophets by putting them all to death. This, of course, angered Queen Jezebel and
she responded by ordering that Elijah be captured and put to death in the same
way. Because of this, Elijah fled,
fearful for his life.
Elijah
is for us, therefore, an example of how the life of piety can create great
hardships for us. Piety is the virtue
that leads us to fulfill our duties. As
Christians, piety means that we act according to our beliefs: that is, defending
truth as revealed by God wherever it is distorted and living righteously
according to God’s law. Elijah was the
sole remaining prophet of God in the land, yet he continued to speak out on
behalf of God and against the pagan practices of Queen Jezebel and the
people. He went so far as to cleanse the
land of false prophets by putting the prophets of Baal to death. This did not change the heart of Queen
Jezebel, however, and so Elijah suffered persecution and had to flee for his
life. His piety—that is, his faithfulness
to his duty to God—created great hardship for him, just as it can for any one
of us.
What
we see in today’s reading, however, is how God provides strength for his
faithful in difficult times. Elijah fled
from the land of Israel with barely more than the clothes on his back. He packed no food or water for the journey. Wearied from his flight and wearied from the
anxiety caused by the threat to his life, Elijah collapsed beneath a tree and
begged that God would take his life so that he would not have to suffer death
at the hands of Queen Jezebel. Instead of
heeding his plea, God provided him with bread and water to restore his
strength. Elijah was safe in that place
and God ministered to him in his distress.
Let me say that again so that it can sink in: the God of the Universe,
the one to whom we owe all of our adoration and service, ministered to Elijah,
his servant in his distress.
Strengthened by this miraculous food, Elijah was able to continue his
flight to Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, where he would encounter God,
like Moses did, face to face.
While
this is a great story for us to contemplate today, since we too are often
persecuted for speaking the truth and for doing what is right according to God
in the face of opposition, in the context of these weeks in which we are
reading from the “Bread of Life” discourse in John’s Gospel, this story points
us to a greater reality: namely, that the many instances in which God sends “bread
from heaven” to support his people are fulfilled in Jesus.
Two
weeks ago, we heard how God miraculously multiplied the bread brought to Elisha
so as to feed the people suffering from famine.
Last week, we heard how God sent manna, literally “unknown bread”, to
feed the Israelites while they were in the desert. This week, we hear how God provided bread for
Elijah in his desperate flight from Queen Jezebel. In each of these instances, and in every
similar one throughout the Old Testament, God provided food that nourished his
people for a time. Eventually this food
would no longer be provided and all of these persons would die. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus reveals
that he himself is living bread, come down from heaven, whose nourishment never
ends and so has the power to sustain those who consume it so that they never
die. In other words, in providing manna
to the Israelites, bread to Elijah, and the multiplication of bread through
Elisha, God was preparing his people to receive the ultimate bread—the living bread,
which is the living Body and Blood of Jesus Christ himself—so that they might
live forever with him.
My
brothers and sisters, the life of piety is no less difficult today than it was
in the time of Elijah. We are no less
subject to persecution for defending the truth and the righteousness of God’s
law than was the prophet Elijah. By
itself, this could seem like very bad news.
Yet, it isn’t. This is because of
the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus,
the incarnate Son of God, has redeemed us from our sin and has given us his own
living body and blood to be our undying nourishment as navigate the trials of this
life. In instituting the Eucharist, he
has given us both a reminder of his gift and the opportunity to receive this
gift of strength frequently. For us who
understand the preciousness of this gift, the Eucharist is also our chance to
give thanks. As we continue our
reflections on this great revelation from the sixth chapter of John’s gospel,
let us remind ourselves that God’s power—literally, the Bread that gives
unending life—is with us to give us strength as we strive to live as his disciples.
One
of the dangers that we must face in our life of piety is that Jesus may be come
too “domesticated” for us. In the Gospel
reading, we heard that many of those who heard Jesus that day questioned how
Jesus could teach as he did. They said, “How
can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
In spite of having seen his miracles, they only considered him as the
son of Joseph and Mary and not as the Son of God. In other words, they had domesticated him and
so struggled to acknowledge his divinity.
We
too can fall into this trap, thinking of Jesus too much as a teacher or friend
(which of course he is) than the Lord of the Universe who has power to save us
in our need and to strengthen us for his work.
To prevent this, today let us acknowledge him once again as the one “come
down from heaven” and receive him as he truly is: the Bread of Life that nourishes
us unto eternal life.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – August 7th,
2021
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