Sunday Scripture Readings

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nineteenth sunday

in ordinary time,

August 11

1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Psalm 85;

Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

OUR GOOD NEWS: God meets us in adversity; calls us to himself and safety. Earlier, the prophet Elijah had fearlessly de-nounced Israel's king and queen for disobeying God, raised a widow's dead son, and on Mount Carmel called down fire and rain from heaven - all in the power of God's mighty prophet reverted to a weak human being, fleeing from royal agents seeking his execution. He returned to Mount Horeb (Sinai), where God had appeared to his people and given the Law through Moses, there to hand over his failed life into God's hands. Instead of welcoming death, Elijah found himself a second Moses, privileged with a direct encounter with the Lord. Israel's God had come to his people in great battles and mighty acts, amid violent spasms of nature. Now the prophet learned something new: The Lord can be found in less spectacular events, such as a "tiny whispering sound" (literally, "sound of thin silence"). Like Moses, Elijah's face must be covered lest he die from directly viewing God. By this gesture of self-preservation he opted to live, persuaded to return to active service. The future for the Chosen People - and our future - lay in Elijah's hands; none other remained to mediate between Israel and her Lord. Lessons for us in today's story include: We can encounter God in humble as well as spectacular events; failure no less than success is our privileged opportunity for growth; finally, the elder Elijah serves as a model for Christian seniors. Christianity's greatest scandal is the failure of Judaism as a whole to accept Jesus as Messiah. Jesus himself lived as an observant Jew, and the earliest Christians - Mary, the Twelve, the first disciples and later converts - were exclusively Jewish. These continued to keep the Mosaic Law and considered themselves Jews who accepted God's Messiah, not members of a new and rival religion. Deeply moved, Paul (second reading) cried out in passionate grief: "How great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart!" Notwithstanding all her privileges and Paul's strenuous apostolic labors, Israel rejected the Good News. Instead of yielding to frustration and resentment, Paul selflessly offered to trade his own election for "my own flesh and blood (kinsmen)," were that possible. Judaism's uniqueness consists in being the Chosen People. God gave their ancestor Jacob the name "Israel" as a sign of Jacob's special role in the divine plan of salvation. Election means called apart, not for special treatment as pampered favorites but to mediate a universal blessing. Paul listed seven privileges, then concluded with Jesus, the greatest gift of all. Romans 11 insists that God has not rejected the Jews. Privileges once bestowed - whether on them or on us - are never taken back. Paul assuaged his sorrow with spontaneous praise ("blessing") of "God, who rules over all," inviting us to pray and set example for the Jews, like us uniquely blessed.