Jesus clearly said that the law of God didn’t just ask for pureness on the outside,

but also pureness in the soul.

 God doesn’t just abhor sin on the outside, but even more so sin inside our hearts.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16

On reaching the place,

He came to the cave and stayed in it. Then the word of Yahweh came to him,“What are you doing here, Elijah?”   Then Yahweh said, “Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for Yahweh.” And Yahweh passed by.

There was first a windstorm, wild wind which rent the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before Yah­weh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the storm, an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.   Af­ter the earthquake, a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, the mur­mur of a gentle breeze.   When Elijah perceived it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

 

Then he heard a voice addressing him again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”   He answered, “I am burning with jealous love for Yahweh, the God of hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and slain your prophets with the sword. No one is left but myself, yet they still seek my life to take it away.”

 Yahweh said to him, “Take the road back through the desert and go to Damascus for you must anoint Hazael as king of Syria;  you shall also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king over Israel; and Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah, you shall anoint as pro­phet in your place.

 

Ps 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

I long to see your face, O Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Matthew 5:27-32

 You have heard that it was said: Do not commit adultery.   But I tell you this: anyone who looks at a woman to lustfully has in fact already committed adultery with her in his heart.

 So, if your right eye causes you to sin, pull it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.   If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.

 It was also said: anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.   But what I tell you is this: If a man divorces his wife except in the case of unlawful union, he causes her to commit adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Elijah’s Corrective Call

Elijah wasn’t originally called by God. Burning with zeal for Yahweh and unable to stand His rejection by the nation, Elijah took upon himself the task of defending Yahweh. He drew up plans, never really consulting God’s mind. All his plans smacked of a God of grandiosity – a projection of his own narcissistic grandiosity on to God.

 

At some point, the balloon must burst, and it did. Following the success on Mount Carmel, Elijah suffers success-depression, turns suicidal, lodges himself in the cave where Moses had received a grandiose theophany.

Now that Elijah is broken and is willing to learn, God offers the corrective – first by granting him a theophany contrary to the one Moses had, thereby teaching him that God is not to be sought in grandiose spectacles, but in the sound of sheer silence; and then by commissioning him for God’s own projects which includes anointing his own successor as well. To his credit, Elijah obeys and is a changed man, with a new God-experience and a humbler self.