When Elijah arrived at the mountain of God, in Horeb, he entered the cave and spent the night there. The word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I am full of zeal for Yahweh, God of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 KINGS 19:9-13
When Elijah arrived at the mountain of God, in Horeb, he entered the cave and spent the night there. The word of Yahweh came to him:
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He said:
“I am full of zeal for Yahweh, God of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
Then he said:
“Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.”
And behold, Yahweh passed by. There was a mighty wind, so strong that it split the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came fire; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Within the “cycle of Elijah” in the First Book of Kings, this is also a very significant episode.
Elijah, pursued by the hatred of Queen Jezebel, flees to the desert. Sustained by the bread provided by the angel, he arrives, after forty days of travel, at the Mountain of God, Horeb, where the scene we read today takes place.
It is like returning to the past, reconnecting with the roots of the people. The unleashed elements of nature – hurricane, earthquake, fire – are the usual accompaniments of the presence of God, cited in the great theophany of Exodus (Ex.19:16) and in the Psalms (50:3; 97:3 among many others).
Thus, it was made that nature represented above all the power and magnificence of the Lord. However, Elijah perceives the Lord in the gentle passing of the breeze, as expressing the peace that arises in the spirit of the prophet, so violently persecuted up to this moment.
From here, the prophet begins a new activity, he will anoint Jehu as king of Israel and designate his own successor, Elisha. In addition, the concept of “the remnant of Israel” is born, those 7,000 who have not bowed the knee before the Baals, those who remain faithful to the Lord in the midst of general apostasy.
The basic idea of the text is therefore a return to the origins of Israel, fidelity to God, to the Covenant. And an announcement that only a minority of the people will be the true heir. Understood in this way, it has a strong consonance with the Gospel text, which presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the Promise, accepted by a few and rejected by the majority.
ROMANS 9:1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying ‑my conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit‑ I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh ‑ the Israelites ‑ to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Exceptionally, the text coincides well with the message of the other two texts. It is a simple message: Paul laments that the people of the promise and the covenant have not been faithful to their destiny, have not been able to recognize the Messiah. Following the bad habit of cutting texts to the minimum, we are deprived of the rest, which says:
“That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God…”
To conclude, quoting Hosea:
“I will call No-People My People; Unloved, Beloved; and where it was said, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called sons of the Living God.”
And quoting Isaiah:
“Though the Israelites were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved… If the Lord of hosts had not left us a remnant, we would have been like Sodom, like Gomorrah.”
And finally:
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense”; and “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
In this text, it becomes clear that when Paul refers to Faith-Works, he understands ‘faith’ as faith in Jesus, while he understands ‘works’ as the fulfillment of the Mosaic law.
The text thus perfectly accompanies the other two, placing special emphasis on the decisive importance of accepting Jesus, and showing the followers of Jesus as representatives of that “remnant of Israel” which will be the heir of the promise, the People of the New Covenant.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.