The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to reflect on the many modern gods and distractions in our personal lives that may be drawing us away from the communal experience of the Presence of God as people living in the Spirit of Jesus.
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The reading from the First Book of Kings describes Elijah’s Triumph over the Priests of Baal.
* [18:1–45] The story of the conflict with the prophets of Baal (vv. 21–40) is embedded in the story of the drought and its ending (vv. 1–20, 41–45). The connection between the two stories is found in Canaanite theology, in whose pantheon Baal, “the Cloud Rider,” the god of rain and storm, was recognized as the one who brings fertility. Worship of many gods was virtually universal in the ancient world; the Israelite requirement of exclusive worship of the Lord (Ex 20:3) was unique. The people of Israel had apparently become comfortable worshiping both Baal and the Lord, perhaps assigning mutually exclusive spheres of influence to each. By claiming authority over the rain (17:1; 18:1), the Lord was challenging Baal’s power in Baal’s own domain. The entire drought story in chaps. 17–18 implies what becomes explicit in 18:21–40: this is a struggle between the Lord and Baal for the loyalties of the people of Israel.1
Psalm 16 is a song of trust and security in God.
* [Psalm 16] In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Ps 16:2–5), preferring Israel’s God (Ps 16:1), the giver of the land (Ps 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Ps 16:7–11).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus highlights our connection to the Law and the Prophets.
* [5:17–20] This statement of Jesus’ position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew’s sermon documentation (see note on Mt 5:1–7:29), other Q material (cf. Mt 18; Lk 16:17), and the evangelist’s own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Mt 5:18). Yet the “passing away” of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The “turning of the ages” comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of “new heavens and a new earth” (Is 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus’ ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Mt 5:21–48) show.3
Susan Naatz comments that in the passages which precede today’s Gospel, Jesus taught the beautiful Beatitudes. Not only did he teach them, but he also lived them, and his life put flesh on the commandments.
Those who did not trust or believe in Jesus thought he was breaking the law. He reassured them that not only did he believe in the commandments but even more, he was inviting people to be mindful of how they lived the commandments. He reassured them: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill…And …whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest…in…heaven.
How do we put flesh on the commandments during the pandemic? What are the Beatitudes of Covid 19? The answers are modeled by Jesus, his disciples, St. Ignatius and all who we witness each day working in healthcare and essential services. May our prayer and our lives be inspired by them. Blessed are those...4
Don Schwager quotes “What you teach, you should do,” by Chromatius, an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."
"While it is sinful to abolish the least of the commandments, all the more so the great and most important ones. Hence the Holy Spirit affirms through Solomon: 'Whoever despises the little things shall gradually die' (Sirach 19:1b). Consequently nothing in the divine commandments must be abolished, nothing altered. Everything must be preserved and taught faithfully and devotedly that the glory of the heavenly kingdom may not be lost. Indeed, those things considered least important and small by the unfaithful or by worldly people are not small before God but necessary. For the Lord taught the commandments and did them. Even small things point to the great future of the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, not only words but also deeds are important; and you should not only teach, but what you teach, you should do." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 20.2.1–3)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Kings 18:20-39 comments that many of us can understand Elijah’s frustration in trying to bring people back to God. We all have people in our lives—children, siblings, or friends—who don’t believe in God and find themselves stuck in a spiritual drought. If only we could have an amazing “God reveal” the way that Elijah did! Maybe that would help our loved ones to begin to believe in him.
Why not ask? Notice how Elijah went big with his “God reveal.” He didn’t just recite rote words or hold his tongue. He prayed for the Lord to do something dramatic—and believed that God would follow through. Now, we shouldn’t set up some life-or-death showdown like Elijah did, but we can go big with our prayers: “Lord, reveal your love to this person, and bring their faith alive.” “Holy Spirit, make your presence known to this person in a tangible way.” “Jesus, I believe you can heal my friend of cancer.”
So go big in your prayers. Ask God for powerful solutions, always knowing that he will answer in his own way, in his own timing. You never know what might happen until you try!
“Lord, I pray boldly: please reveal yourself to my loved ones!”6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal to the dowry of Jezebel as he discusses this “big” miracle. The Jews of the time of Elijah believed that Yahweh was the primary God of many gods. Friar Jude reminds us that the contrast between the approach to the Law of Matthew and Paul was resolved as followers of Jesus were expelled from the synagogue.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, explores obsession with our individual salvation project in the words of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author, minister, and contemplative activist, whose journey toward freedom from slaveholder religion has been one of unlearning a hyper-individualized piety. Wilson-Hartgrove finds that communal spirituality and action for justice has helped liberate him from the individualistic, self-made myth of systemic whiteness.
[The] antidote [to hyper-individualized spirituality] is, in many ways, in the communal contemplative practices of the black-led freedom movement in America. I’m thinking about the prayer practices of song and shout in Pentecostal churches, of call and response in black Baptist preaching. There’s a mantra-like repetition in that experience of worship that is every bit as much contemplation as you find sitting in silence. In fact, it is a silence—a still point of complete simplicity—that’s beyond words. For me, I find that silence in the praise and testimony service at the St. John’s Baptist Church, and I find it singing and marching in the streets with the Poor People’s Campaign.7
The Prophet Elijah shared an experience of the Presence of God with the whole community. The Body of Christ in the time of “new heavens and a new earth” is called to communal practices that reveal the Presence of God in the community of all people.
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