Eucharistic Meditation, February 27

?Elisha returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate.?E

The redemption of Israel is not going to take place in any ordinary fashion. It will not be a matter of Israel pulling herself up by her bootstraps, or of a mass revival. Yahweh saves His people through the strange device of narrowing the people down to a single man, down to a single prophet, and making a new Israel through him. Yahweh saves a remnant of His people through the death of Israel, and through resurrection.

One of the clearest signs of this in our sermon text has to do with food. Wherever Elijah goes, the Lord provides food for him. He goes out to the brook Cherith, and ravens bring him food. He goes to Zarephath, and Yahweh miraculously provides food through the widow. Here, Yahweh feeds Elijah in the wilderness again, and in this way raises him up from death to restore him to his prophetic office.

Yahweh provides food for Elijah everywhere he goes, but one of the striking things about this provision is that it is largely for Elijah alone. No one shares in the meals the raven brings. The widow, her son and her household share in the meals at Zarephath, but they are Gentiles. Even when Elijah sends Ahab up to the top of Carmel for a meal, Elijah does not participate, but crouches waiting for rain. Here in chapter 19 Elijah is again alone, eating a baked thing of live coals and drinking water, alone in the wilderness. Elijah never eats with other Israelites.

With the ?anointing?Eof Elisha, though, this is about to change. Elijah eats alone; but Elisha is host of a feast, slaughtering a peace offering and sharing it with ?the people.?EThis is emblematic of his entire ministry. Elijah is the lone prophet, but Elisha will be the leading prophet of many, organizing bands known as the ?sons of the prophet.?EYahweh narrows down to a single faithful man, but after his death and resurrection, and through a judgment on Israel as a whole, a new community is founded by his successor.

This is the story of our meal as well. Jesus is the one man who willingly dies for his people; He goes to the tree alone, forsaken even by His own disciples; He is despised and rejected of men, the shepherd from whom the sheep have scattered. But through His isolation on the cross, He forms a new Israel. Because Jesus tastes the cup alone, we may drink it together, in the kingdom of the Father.