June 28, 2020
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel from last Sunday we heard Jesus reiterate some of the words of the prophet Jeremiah found in the First Reading. The readings for today take on a similar tone as the words of Jesus echo events in the life of Elisha, another prophet from the Old Testament.
Elisha is strongly associated with his predecessor and mentor, Elijah, both known as “non-writing” prophets because they have no books recorded in their names in the Bible. They functioned as prophets to give warning to the kings and people of Israel for falling into idol worship and straying from their covenant with God. They were also known for possessing great powers of healing, performing miraculous deeds for many of the people they encountered.
Elijah and Elisha were members of a prophetic guild where some prophets of the Old Testament with similar abilities met and traveled together to spread the word of God. Often the older prophets served as the instructors for younger ones, this being the case with Elijah who was the mentor for Elisha.
Elijah’s activity wanes after many years of prophesying and performing miraculous feats and toward the end of his ministry he is instructed by God to appoint Elisha as his successor. Elijah finds Elisha, who is plowing his field, and summons Elisha to accompany him. Elisha bids farewell to his parents, slaughters his livestock for the people’s consumption, and eagerly leaves his home to follow Elijah (1Kngs. 19:10-21).
After Elijah is taken up to heaven by God in a fiery chariot (2Kngs. 2:1-14), Elisha assumes his role. In the First Reading for today we find an example of one of his stories (2Kings. 4:8-11, 41-16a). Elisha travels to a small village named Shunem where an influential woman welcomes him into her home and feeds him. The woman senses that Elisha is a holy man so she builds a room with accommodations where he and his servant can stay whenever they travel to Shunem.
After visiting several times, Elisha decides that he should find some way to repay the woman for her hospitality and kindness. Upon learning that she is childless and married to an elderly man, Elisha promises her that she will have a son the following year.
The woman expresses her doubt that this could occur, but as guaranteed by Elisha, she gives birth to a boy the following year. This event would have been a life-saving gift for such a woman facing potential widowhood without a son to care for her and carry on the family legacy.
In the Gospel from Matthew for today (Mt. 10:37-42) Jesus is speaking to his disciples about conditions required for discipleship. These words of Jesus closely parallel the events from the First Reading.
When beckoned by Elijah, Elisha gives up his family, rids himself of his possessions, and immediately follows his teacher in order to become a prophet and spokesman for God. In this way, Elisha fulfills one of the conditions called for by Jesus who says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt. 10:37).
The Shunammite woman also fulfills another condition of discipleship described by Jesus, “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward” (Mt. 10:41). The woman receives and accommodates Elisha, a prophet and righteous man with her generosity and, in turn, receives a righteous person’s reward, the son she never had.
These conditions of discipleship described by Jesus still hold true for us today. However, the primary one, loving Jesus over family, may be hard for us to understand or accept. Another command of Jesus found later in the Gospel of Matthew might shed some light. When asked by a scholar which commandment of the law is the greatest, Jesus responds, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:37, 39).
In both passages Jesus is telling us that our relationships with God and with our families are both important, but he is clarifying and prioritizing the way to do this. He says that first we must love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then we will be perfectly in tune with the self-denial and self-sacrifice of Jesus to give all the love that we have in our heart, soul, and mind to others around us.
If like Elisha, we free ourselves of worldly concerns, we will be able to shower those around us with the life-saving gift of God’s grace, like the child given to the woman of Shunem. Likewise, if like the Shunammite woman we receive God into our hearts through the one sent by God, Jesus, we can we let go of our worldly possessions in order to share them with others, like she did with Elisha. It’s all about receiving the love of God through the gift of his son and then giving it away to others, in that order.
In this way, instead of saying, “It’s better to give than to receive.” One might say, “It’s better to first receive than give.”
