Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard from the Sacred Scriptures the story of the confrontation between the Lord’s prophet and the many prophets of Baal at Mount Moriah, and then from the New Testament where the Lord told His disciples after He was likely confronted by the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees who often criticised Him about not following the Law and commandments of God in the manner that they had preferred and enforced among the people of God. The Lord essentially reiterated that He came not to eradicate or annul the Law, but to restore the Law’s true intention, meaning and purpose before it had been twisted and misunderstood by the people over the past many centuries of its application and practice.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah in which the continuation of the story of the ministry of the prophet Elijah in the northern kingdom of Israel was told to us. We heard how the prophet Elijah, like the other prophets of God before him had faced a lot of hardships, challenges and trials in the midst of their ministry and works among the people of God. Many of the prophets of God had been persecuted and they had to suffer amidst their work and ministry among the Israelites, many of whom had wandered off from the path of God and from His teachings, and by the reign of king Ahab, the people of God had forgotten their Lord and Master, and most of them including the king himself worshipped many pagan idols and abominations of their neighbours.

King Ahab himself was infamous for his many wicked actions and exploits, and he did not live his life or acted in the manner that the Lord had entrusted to him to do, as he sought worldly glory and pleasures, and in one of the accounts of the Book of Kings, plotted with the help and accomplices of his wife, the wicked queen Jezebel, to have an innocent man named Naboth condemned to death on false accusations and charges just because he desired Naboth’s vineyard, which stood upon the latter’s ancestral lands. All these had led to the great anger of God against Ahab and the people of Israel, and yet, at the same time, He still wanted them to come back to Him and be reconciled to Him, and hence He sent Elijah to them.

As we all heard, the prophet Elijah had to contend alone against all the many prophets and priests of Baal, one against four hundred and fifty of the latter, in front of many of the Israelites and the king himself at Mount Carmel. The prophet Elijah issued the challenges against those who worshipped and served Baal to see which among God and Baal was indeed the one and only True God, and we heard in that passage today from the Book of Kings how Baal did not even respond to the prayers and requests of his many priests and prophets. On the other hand, God responded to the prayers of Elijah, sending down a great fire from Heaven to consume all of the offerings and sacrifices that Elijah had placed on the altar he built on Mount Carmel.

Through that occasion, the people could clearly see who was indeed the one and only True God, that is the Lord Himself, and not the false god Baal. God wanted to show and remind His people that He was their Lord and Master, as the One Who had been with them throughout time and history, and Who had saved them again and again from their oppressors and from everyone who had troubled them. He rescued them from their slavery in Egypt, brought them to the Promised Land and helped them to settle down, to live in peace, harmony and prosperity, and yet, those people still disobeyed Him and betrayed Him, choosing to follow pagan idols and gods instead of obeying and worshipping the one and only True God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew and as I have mentioned earlier, in this particular passage, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and the people, reiterating that He had come into this world to renew and to complete the Law and the words of the Lord which He had constantly passed and revealed to us all these time. However, some among the people, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law misunderstood His intentions, and they refused to believe in Him because they perceived Him and His teachings and works as efforts to overcome and to abolish the Law of God, accusing Him therefore of blasphemy and crimes that He did not actually do, opposing Him and His efforts simply because they were jealous of Him and His successes and popularity.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is where we are all reminded that we should not easily allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations of the world which could lead us astray down the wrong path in life. That was how the people of Israel fell into sin and disobedience against God, how king Ahab fell into his wickedness and evils, and how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who were tempted by worldly glory and power, by their attachments to rules and traditions, that they all refused to obey the Lord and instead preferring to walk down their own paths in life, opposing God’s works and not following the path that He has shown to all of them. This is what we should not do in our own lives.

Let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ, and let us all continue to do our part so that in whatever we do in life, in all of our words, actions and deeds, and in our every interactions with one another, in every moments of our daily lives, we will always strive to do what God has taught and commanded us to do. Let us truly obey Him and follow His path in all the things we do in our lives, and let us no longer be stubborn or hardened in our hearts, but instead, let us be humble and allow the Lord to lead us down the right path in life, to guide us into the path towards righteousness and eternal life, as we have all been expected to do. May all of us be truly holy and committed to the Lord, at all times. Amen.