Homily for June 15th, 2018. 1 Kings: 19:9a, 11-16.
The prophet
Elijah, whom we encounter in today’s first reading, is one of the great figures
in the Old Testament. He and Moses appeared with Jesus at his Transfiguration,
when Jesus’ face and clothes shone with an unearthly, heavenly light. In
today’s first reading Elijah has just achieved the greatest triumph of his
life. In a contest atop Mt.
Carmel
We heard two
days ago how Elijah prepared his own altar and sacrifice. To make his
achievement more dramatic, and to demonstrate the power of the true God of
Israel to do the humanly impossible, Elijah ordered the altar and the
sacrificial gifts he had placed upon it to be drenched with water. Then, at his
prayer, fire came from heaven to consume everything Elijah had prepared.
Enraged at
Elijah’s triumph over the Baal worshippers, whom she favors, the wicked queen
Jezebel vows death for Elijah, who flees for his life to the cave at Horeb,
where we meet him in our first reading. Deeply disillusioned, he pours out his
complaints to the Lord God. “I have been the most zealous for the Lord, the God
of hosts,” he cries out. . . . “I alone am left,” he tells God, “and they seek
to take my life.”
The Lord’s response to these
understandable complaints is to send Elijah on a new mission. “Go, take the
road back to the desert near Damascus Aram
. . . as king of Israel
What does this
tell us? No individual, no matter how great his or her achievement and
character, is indispensable. Elijah’s work is finished. God sends him to
prepare others to carry on Elijah’s work.
The same
sending awaits each one of us, one day: when the Lord calls us home to be with
him, and with the loved ones have preceded us, forever.
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