Reading
I
1
Kgs 19:16b, 19-21
The LORD said to Elijah:
"You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah,
as prophet to succeed you."
Elijah set out and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat,
as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen;
he was following the twelfth.
Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
"Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you."
Elijah answered, "Go back!
Have I done anything to you?"
Elisha left him, and taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them;
he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh,
and gave it to his people to eat.
Then Elisha left and followed Elijah as his attendant.
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps
16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
R. (cf. 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My LORD are you.
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot."
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Gal
5:1, 13-18
Brothers and sisters:
For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.
I say, then: live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Gospel
Lk
9:51-62
When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the
In the First Reading, the prophet Elijah begins his return journey and encounters Elisha, the successor chosen by Yahweh himself. The encounter between Elijah and Elisha parallels that of the encounter between Elijah and Yahweh. As Elijah returns to the ordinary world of food and companionship, Elisha abandons his family and lifestyle in order to follow Elijah.
For Paul, freedom does not mean that Christians can simply abandon themselves to Godless conduct. As he makes clear in today’s Second Reading, freedom is to be at the service of others out of love. Paul makes no distinction between gentile or Jew; for him all are neighbor. All are called to live by the Spirit which demands that every Christian conduct themselves as sons and daughters of God, following in the footsteps of Christ despite the struggles of the flesh.
Today’s Gospel is a lesson on the
demands of discipleship. Jesus is on his way to God. It is his “exodus”
where he will face suffering, death, and his eventual resurrection and Jesus is
resolved to fulfill his mission despite any opposition. The same must be true of
his anyone wanting to call themselves disciple. Samaritans were not friendly
with Jews especially when these were simply passing through their territory on
pilgrimage to
1.
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
2.
"Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the
3.
"No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was
left behind is fit for the
These exaggerated proverbs (hyperbolic proverbs) are meant to “shake things up”. Jesus wants to make sure that those listening are jolted from their routine life. Discipleship is an answer to a call from God and nothing should stand in its way. Many people have gone to great lengths to assure us that Jesus could not have meant what he said, especially when he answers “let the dead bury their dead”. It almost seems that Jesus could care less about the young man’s dead father. In reality, many scholars believe that the young man in today’s Gospel was telling Jesus that he would follow him but only after living out his life with his father and his family; then once his father died at a ripe old age, he would become a disciple. As regards the proverb of the plow, Jesus is referring to the simple Palestinian plow guided by one hand while using the other to drive the oxen. Should the ploughman look round, the furrow will end up crooked.
Many years ago while I was living in the
This is what Jesus meant when he said "No one who sets
a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Ishida, T. (ed.) “Studies in the Period of David and Solomon”; Jones, G. H., “1 and 2 Kings”; Barrett, C. K., “Freedom and Obligation: A Study of the Epistle to the Galatians”; Bruce, F. F., “The Epistle to the Galatians”; Ebeling, G., “The Truth of the Gospel: An Exposition of Galatians”; Fitzmyer, J. A., “TheGospel According to Luke”; LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Maddox, R., “The Purpose of Luke-Acts”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary".
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa