NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
11 AUGUST 2024
The prophet
Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel on Mount Carmel in the
northern kingdom of Israel. Most of his
fellow Israelites had abandoned the Covenant with God. Instead, they had chosen to put their faith
in the Baals, the gods of fertility.
After the prophets of Baal had failed to demonstrate that their gods
existed, Elijah called on God to demonstrate his power and presence. Lightning came from the sky and consumed the
sacrifice on the altar. Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal and restored the
faith of the people.
Today, we
find Elijah running for his life. Queen
Jezebel has sent her troops to kill him.
Completely discouraged, he has entered the desert and wants to die. But God sends him food in the form of a
hearth cake and jar of water and commands him to continue his journey in the
desert to Mount Horeb, the northern kingdom’s name for Mount Sinai. There, he would encounter God and receive the
strength to continue his mission.
Many years earlier,
his ancestors had entered the same desert.
They had won a victory against their Egyptian captors when Moses led
them through the waters of the Red Sea.
But, like Elijah, they were discouraged and wanted to die. In this deserted place, they had no
food. So, through the intercession of
Moses, God gave them food in the form of manna from heaven. Nourished by this food, they continued their
journey to Mount Sinai. There, they
would encounter God and receive his covenant and eventually enter the Promised
Land.
Many
centuries later, Jesus had fed a crowd of thousands with five loaves of barley
and two fish in a deserted place. They
were so taken by this miracle that they wanted to make him king. He withdrew from the crowd, because he had
not worked this miracle to give them free meals. He did it to be a sign of something much
greater.
Today, he
continues to explain the significance of this sign. He wants the crowd to know what we know: that he is the eternal Word come down from
heaven to remain with us. We heard this
the Gospel of Saint John proclaimed on Christmas day. That is what Jesus is trying to tell the
crowds. He had been present at the
creation of the world, and now he intends that this sign might deepen their
faith in him. He is the living bread
come down from heaven. He gives himself
to those who believe that they might have eternal life in him.
However,
the crowds cannot believe in him. He is
too ordinary for them. They know his humble
origins in Nazareth. They are not interested in his invitation to imitate his
example of giving of himself. They do
not want to give. They want to get. They want free meals for the rest of their
lives.
These
readings speak to us today. Like the
Israelites and Elijah, we too have experienced the presence and power of God in
our lives. But like them, we have known
times of failure and rejection. In those
times when God seems far from our lives, we find ourselves in deserts and are
tempted to give up. But the Lord feeds
us with his Body and Blood to increase our faith and strengthen us to continue
our own journeys through life. He gives
himself to us as food, so that we can give of ourselves to others.
In this
Bread of Life discourse, he wants to deepen our faith in this central Mystery
of our faith. He invites us to enter
into communion with him and his Father.
In this Eucharist, he shares a life that is already eternal. We recognize his real presence. Sent from this Mass, we open our eyes to the
ways he is present in those we encounter – especially those on the margins and
those we do not like. We imitate him by
giving, and thus receiving life that cannot end.
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