Who Are We Sacrificing To?
Jun 12: Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
You’ve heard the phrases “letter of the law” and “spirit of the law.” Well, we mean it literally, as in the Holy Spirit. Jesus, and most of the early church, ran into Jewish officials who cared more about the letter of the law than the spirit, which is why they spent so much time insisting we need to do more than just follow the law.
However, we don’t follow every Mosaic law, because Jesus has fulfilled the law. Some moral precepts remain, but time and cultural-specific ones do not.
Reading 1
1 Kgs 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!"
Most people would come to believe in God if they saw something like what's described in this reading. We don't usually get to witness dramatic miracles like this when we pray to God, though. Then again, we'll never get them if we pray to Baal, either.
So what's the difference? Baal doesn't exist; God chooses when and how He'll reveal Himself to us. He's not a magic trick.
If I asked you to give me a thousand dollars, and you said no, does that prove you don't exist? Obviously not. Because you have a will and you chose not to do something.
Why God choses to reveal Himself in supernatural ways sometimes, but not others, is a mystery beyond our understanding. But it's not proof of non-existence.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 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. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
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. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
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. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
The "other gods" the psalm refers to are false gods and/or demons, like Baal. But we may offer ourselves to gods that are less personified--money, career, politics, self-gratification.
What do we choose to spend our life on? Where do we offer up our sacrifices? To the God of Israel, or someone else? The more we pour our blood into those, the less we have to offer to God. Blood is life; what are we bleeding for?
Alleluia
Ps 25:4b, 5a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
and guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
It’s kind of obvious to say, but this is why all this stuff is written down. So we can learn.
Gospel
Mt 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."
“Until heaven and earth pass away” is a weird translation of the original text. It’s a little clearer in Luke’s version: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than....”1 Jesus is saying that even if the world ends, the Israelites are obligated to follow the law, until all is fulfilled.
And that’s what Jesus is here to do—fulfill the prophets. He’s not going to erase the law, but actually expand on it. Because what’s important isn’t the letter oft he law, but the spirit. And the spirit is love.