Catechism Links[1]
CCC 587: Jesus’ Ascent to Jerusalem for his death and resurrection
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“Sorrowful Christ”
Artist and Date are UNKNOWN |
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Elijah’s time is coming to an end, and God instructs him to select his successor, Elisha. In response to God’s instruction, Elijah travels to a region near Damascus, and finds Elisha plowing a field using the symbolic twelve oxen (for the twelve tribes of Israel). “Elijah's act of throwing his mantle over the shoulders of Elisha expressed the divine call to share the prophetic mission. Elisha's prompt response through destruction of his plow and the oxen is an example of total obedience and detachment from his former manner of living in order to promote the glory of God.”[5]
"Elisha's response to Elijah's call is quite exemplary: he leaves everything behind and puts himself at the disposal of the prophet. That will be how the apostles respond to Christ (cf. Matthew 4:20, 22; etc.), and it should be how anyone responds when the Lord calls him or her to a mission which involves leaving everything. But the call issued by Jesus is more pressing than Elijah's, as can be seen from the Gospel passage where Jesus, in response to someone who says, 'I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home,' replies, 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:61-62)."[6]
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R. (cf. 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Psalm 16 is a song of thanksgiving that has become prophetic. It speaks clearly of the resurrection accomplished in Christ. It is a hymn of trust in God. Each strophe ends with an affirmation of faithfulness. Key, in the context of the Easter season, is the idea of trust in God who has conquered death and offers the same gift. ("Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.") The psalmist prays that God will shield the faithful from harm, and expresses confidence in the Lord’s salvation; closing the passage with praise for God’s loving mercy.
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St. Paul begins addressing the concept of Christian freedom. The freedom he expresses is freedom from the Law of Moses, and freedom from the requirement for Gentiles to participate in all of the laws of the Jews in order to be part of the Christian faith. He warns them not to take this as permission to engage in activities that violate the law, but rather to focus on the spiritual freedom this gives. He goes on to tell them to be guided by the great commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself,” and in this way they will achieve the Christian ideal.
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This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, set shortly after the transfiguration event, begins the narrative of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem with his disciples. The announcement, “When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,” provides language almost identical to the description of Elijah’s assumption in 2 Kings 2:9-11.
As they travel, word comes that the name of Jesus is being used to cast out demons by others, not part of the group of disciples traveling with him. The Twelve are upset by this, but Jesus reminds them of the justice of their common cause, a clear reference to the Lord's later call to all peoples to participate in the ministry.
They travel through a Samaritan region in which Jesus was not welcome because of his Jewish identity (see also John 4:9). His rejection by the Samaritans is a forerunner to the rejection he will receive when he reaches his destination. James and John (the “Sons of Thunder”) want to destroy the place, but Jesus, prefiguring the persecution he will face in Jerusalem, does not dispute his rejection.
As the journey continues, the author provides us with three sayings of Jesus about the requirement to place the values of Christian discipleship above all other requirements of life. Proclaiming the kingdom of God must come before even family obligations.
In the first of these sayings, “Foxes have dens…,” Jesus provides an example to all who follow him. He lives in poverty, dedicated to his mission.
The second: “Let the dead bury their dead,” is a play on words. Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Jesus' message is the message of life. This saying was never intended to be taken literally, as filial piety is deeply ingrained in Jewish life.
The third saying: “No one who…looks to what was left behind,” Jesus demands more than Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:19-21). “Plowing for the Kingdom demands sacrifice.” [7]
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Reflection:
We think about Jesus’ mission and how he must have felt at the time where the Gospel passage from St. Luke places him. “The days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,” that means his time on earth is growing short and while he has significant notoriety around Galilee, and many know of him in Jerusalem, he was sent to bring salvation to the whole world. He was given the mission of bringing God’s message to all the people of the world, and he has barely scratched the surface. Even as he and his friends travel to Jerusalem for the last time, he encounters people who reject him. We can almost feel his despair, even as his too-zealous disciples offer to use their newly discovered faith to “call down fire from heaven to consume them.”
So much had to be left to these simple followers of his; even with the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen them, he knows how difficult it will be. It is this mood that strikes us from the Gospel (and from the story of Elijah selecting his successor, since he too was ending his service on earth). God’s plan, though, moves forward. Jesus’ final journey and his great passion at the end of it will be enough. Already the Word of God impacts the world, and even with Jesus’ apparent defeat on the cross, the will of God to reveal himself has moved beyond where those who would wish to stop it could.
In all the years since the events in Galilee and Jerusalem, the Gospel of Jesus has been proclaimed by people of faith. It has been taken around the world, and there are few alive now who do not know the name of Jesus. His great task in not compete though. There is still much to do. The battle is waged against the forces of evil and they are persistent. Jesus passes his call on to us through the words of scripture. He asks us, through his apostle St. Paul, to continue to live in the freedom of God’s spirit, which informs us to love one another.
Today we pray that we heed that call, and with the Holy Spirit as our constant ally that we are able to do his work and transform the world though our great love. We pray also that this great effort may be our top priority, since this is the subtext for the example of Elisha and the Lord’s sayings to his disciples. It is an enormous task, but we have the Lord to help us.
Pax
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Sorrowful Christ” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN.
[5] See NAB footnote on 1 Kings 19:16ff.
[6] The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 500.
[7] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:125, p.150.
