JESUS—FULFILMENT OF THE TRUE LAW
Introduction
Elijah gathers the people of Israel together to make them opt for Yahweh as their God, instead of limping between other gods, epitomized by Baal. The author relates this in a dramatic, epic style.
Jesus says something similar in words that at first sight seem to say the opposite: he has come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, that is, to give it deeper dimensions. What matters for us especially is that we must be aware that we live under the new law of love and that we are guided by the liberating Holy Spirit from servitude to the law.
1 Reading: 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!”
Responsorial 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.
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.
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.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever. R.
Alleluia PS 25:4B, 5A
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
and guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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
When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, he was convinced that there was no god to champion their cause. Nevertheless he taunts them, suggesting that the god Baal may be occupied or away on a journey and therefore incapable of responding. But when the God of Israel is invoked, his presence is felt at once as the burnt offering was consumed.
The story has folkloric qualities but also a contemporary application. People today have their own gods: financial success, theft, corruption. Even our most famous contemporary celebrities turn out to have feet of clay. They are properly called “idols”!
Yet the person of God lives by the faith and conviction that God will ultimately see him through. The gods of our own making are unreliable. We have a centuries-old tradition, one that Christ brought to fulfillment. If we place our confidence in Christ, we will not be disappointed. Other gods may disappoint us. But our faith tells us that there is only one God who counts. He is a God of mystery, of course, a God who is totally ‘other’, but a God who has spoken to us in Jesus and will not disappoint. After all, he is God-with-us, our Emmanuel.
Blessing
We live under the law of the new covenant, where the key to all laws and observances is love. May we understand and live by this love, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!