Aug-8 Liturgical Study Nineteenth Sunday

 

Nineteenth Sunday

Kings 19:4-8

Jezebel was the daughter of the priest-king Ethbaal, ruler of the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, who married King Ahab of Israel (ruled c. 874–853 BCE). She persuaded Ahab to turn away from Yahweh and worship the Tyrian nature-god Baal-Melkart. Most of the prophets of Yahweh were killed at Jezebel's command and she had threatened Elijah with dire consequences in Kings 19:1-3, causing Elijah to flee for his life to Beersheba in the neighbouring kingdom of Judah, deep in the desert, far away from the reach of Jezebel. At this point Elijah seems to have reached the end of his tether and is asking Yahweh to relieve him of his duties, much like previous prophets like Moses. Instead an angel wakes him from his sleep and orders him to eat and drink the food; he was given the same food given to Isiah, and he is sent to go on a 200 mile long journey from Mount Carmel to Mount Horeb (aka Mt Sinai or Jebel Mousa) where Moses first saw the burning bush and later received the 10 commandments. Here the reformation of Israel was revealed to Elijah and he subsequently appointed the prophet Elisha as his successor. 

Psalm 34

Verse1: Psalm 34 is said to be written by David in a cave at Adullam when he took refuge among the Philistines as he was fleeing for his life from the murderous forces of Saul, who was driven by jealousy of how much people talked about David’s victory over Goliath and ignored Saul’s own many victories. David was inspired to humble himself and feign madness to gain the trust of the Philistines, but he knew it was the Lord's doing

Verse2: David knew the power of group worship in praise of Yahweh. He is unafraid to bear testimony to the redeeming works of Yahweh

Verse3: When we focus not on  ourselves but on praising God then we are filled with radiant joy and God will answer our prayers just like he answered David's prayers

Verse4: Even in his darkest hour David feels the divine presence of an angel (or maybe Yahweh himself) to protect him from the murderous forces of Saul and from the Philistines. He exhorts his rag-tag followers to truly experience the goodness of Yahweh promising them God will never let them down.

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

St Paul is exhorting the newly converted Ephesians who have just entered into the new life in Christ, as a new community and a new culture with a particular way of living with one another, to renounce all the forces of evil, the devil, and all his empty promises. And in doing so not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Falling into sin is inappropriate. However righteous anger against all the effects of injustice and oppression, both inside and outside the church, is appropriate. At such times when not being angry would be sin. 

Lastly by imitating God, he asks us to follow the example of Jesus and the love Christ has for each of us.

John 6:41-51

For the first time, the crowd is identified as Jews seeking to stir up trouble by questioning Jesus' heritage and trying to fit him into the Mosaic context of manna in the desert. Bread equals manna in the wilderness. The miracle of the feeding equals the food that filled their ancestors. Anything outside that context is not in conformance with Jewish tradition. Jesus had to shut them up to provide a different context from the one that was clouding their hearing and understanding.

But Jesus tells them that he is the Son of the living God. He quotes Isaiah 54:13:  “All who heard from the Father and learned from what they heard will come to me.” 

Jesus is clear that our salvation cannot happen individually. One cannot come to Jesus on one’s own. It is dependent upon God’s beckoning, the Father’s instruction, and our understanding, learning and choices. 

Jesus’ final words “The bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” are both a revelation and a promise. Jesus will give his body literally. The promise is that this giving up will be for the life of the world.