BLANK SPACES - A: 19th Sunday in OrdTime

First Reading: 1 Kgs 19:9, 11-13 (13 August 2023)

“He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (1 Kgs 19:10).

These are the words of the prophet Elijah to the Lord in response to the latter’s question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 9b). Apparently, what happened is that Elijah had fled to Mt. Horeb, journeying for forty days and forty nights (v. 8). Upon reaching the mountain, he came to learn about the voice of the Lord (v. 9a). It was not stipulated in the narrative how the Lord’s message had been made available to him. We only know that, later, God ordered the prophet to go outside the cave to meet him (v. 11). This enigmatic piece of information is, however, omitted in our first reading today. Verses 9b and 10 were skipped in liturgical lectionaries for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Conversely, some valuable insights can be learned from these blank spaces to understand the overall plot of Elijah’s flight to Horeb.

The first is the idea of God’s omnipresence. Even before Elijah’s fateful meeting with God at “the sound of a low whisper” (v. 12), God had already found means to communicate with the prophet and intervene in his needs. In Beersheba, after fleeing from the hot pursuit of Jezebel’s militia (vv. 2-3), Elijah was at the point of giving up, accepting his impending death, saying: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (v. 4). Miraculously, an angel handed him a piece of cake and a jar of water, encouraging him to arise and eat (vv. 5-6). This detail implies there is no need to wait for God’s extraordinary presence since he could reveal himself in many ways.

Elijah’s physical meeting with him in v. 13 is only a bonus because the prophet had already communicated with him (vv. 4-5) and heard his voice earlier (v. 9b-10).

The second is the concept of Elijah’s jealousy, evidenced in his remark: “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of host” (v. 10). The Hebrew term used here is qan’a, which lexically means “to be zealous, jealous” (cf. HALOT). The Greek word used in the Septuagint is zelon, which may denote “intense negative feelings over another’s achievements or success” or “positively and intensely interested in something” (cf. BDAG). In short, both terms paradoxically denote either the positive trait of being enthusiastic about a cause or the negative disposition of envying another for his/her favorable status or situation. This dual meaning of qan’a and zelon infers that being zealous may lead to being jealous, and vice versa.

As Elijah was very zealous of defending the Lord before the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), he also became very jealous of the fate of his fellow Israelites, who were left unpunished for their evil deeds and plans to kill him (19:10).

We, too, have many so-called blank spaces when answers to our questions remain empty. But these ellipses can be opportunities to search and discern what God’s voice is silently telling us. They can also be viewed as golden moments to check our personal disposition, confronting ourselves whether we are genuinely zealous of doing good or only jealous of the other’s blessings.

- Rex Fortes, CM