10th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 15th June 2024 – 1 Kgs 19,19-21; Mt 5,33-37
Complete Breakup with the Past
The Lord gave Elijah three anointing tasks earlier (1 Kgs 19,15-16). In today’s reading, Elijah carries out the third task, manifesting his prompt obedience to God’s word. As Elijah passed by, he threw his cloak over the shoulders of Elisha. The meaning was clear. He was passing over to Elisha the prophetic vocation which had been his. The cloak represented both the person and his authority. In Elijah’s case, the cloak had miraculous powers which were also being passed on. Elisha immediately accepted the call and made a petition to Elijah. Elisha’s request to go back and say goodbye to his family reminds us of the man who wanted to say goodbye to his family before becoming a disciple of Jesus (Lk 10,59). Elisha’s petition may look contradictory. It sounds like Elisha is not responding the way Jesus was asking his followers. At the deeper level, Elisha’s response is a complete, unconditional, and irrevocable response to following Elijah and becoming a prophet. He kills the oxen, burns the wooden yoke and thus breaks with his past vocation. To say idiomatically, he was burning his ‘boats’ and committing himself totally and unreservedly to his calling as God’s prophet and spokesman.
