13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today is a good Sunday to realize that the choice of readings is not always coherent, nor even appropriate. It is clear that the second reading has hardly any relation to the other two (from the 9th to the 16th Sunday we are reading the Letter to the Galatians). On the other hand, the first reading has an ending similar to that of the Gospel, although its similarity is so superficial that it hardly adds anything.
1 KINGS 19:16b and 19-21
In those days, the Lord said to Elijah:
– Anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you.
Elijah went and found Elisha, son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak over him. Then Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said:
– Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.
Elijah replied:
– Go back. What have I done to stop you?
Elisha turned back, took the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them, used the plowing equipment to make a fire, roasted the meat, and gave it to his people to eat. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and became his servant.
The two books we now call Kings were originally one. It was written by the Deuteronomistic School, with a first edition around 600 BC and a final version around 560 BC, during the Babylonian Exile.
It contains the narrative of the history of the people (rather of their kings) from the death of David to the Babylonian exile. Its fundamental intention is to confirm the thesis of Deuteronomy: if the people are faithful to God, God will protect them; if they are unfaithful and break the covenant, God will punish them.
Therefore, it seeks to explain the Exile as an action of God punishing the infidelity of the People, although not destroying them.
In this process, the Prophets play a very important role, men of God who, with their words and signs, constantly awaken the religious consciousness in the people, admonish them for their infidelities, and remind them of the Covenant with the Lord.
The most important Prophet in these books is Elijah, who constantly fights against idolatry and the degeneration of customs, especially in the northern kingdom, Israel. In today’s text, we see how Elijah’s “succession” is prepared, as he adopts Elisha, by the Lord’s command, as his successor. The text is drawn to the theme of the Gospel, although there are very significant differences between the two texts.
GALATIANS 5:1 and 13-18
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.
Today we encounter one of the most brilliant expressions of Paul, which shows the novelty of the News of Jesus, an expression – in addition – of a basic theme in religiosity and in the knowledge of God: God is the liberator, Jesus comes to liberate, the Christian life is liberation.
The letter to the Christians of Galatia seems to have been written in Ephesus, around the year 57. The communities of Galatia, in Asia Minor, were mostly made up of pagans converted to Christianity. But groups of Jews sowed unrest among them by proclaiming that those converted to Christianity were obliged to submit to the Law of Moses. This is the same theme that appears at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, the great fight of Paul and the Judaizers.
Paul writes them a letter defending freedom before the Law. But from this specific theme we rise to the more general thesis: Christian freedom before the concrete law, if one lives in the Spirit, in the Law of Love that makes all laws unnecessary, because it goes far beyond what is prescribed.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J