Prayer for Clay

Heavenly Father,

You are the potter, I am the clay.

Form me by your Word this day.

Breathe into me your Holy Spirit,

That I may go forth recreated

To renew the face of the earth.

Amen.

Moses, Elijah, and Jesus: Long day's journey into light.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 116

Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:4-8

Elijah went a day's journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
"This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
"(Arise) get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Today's reading points back to the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the desert.

God gave them the quail and manna from heaven to eat to nourish them on their journey.

On one occasion Moses saw God's back as he passed by a cave (Ex 33:18-23).

It is that same cave that Elijah is fleeing to for his own encounter with the Almighty.

Elijah is fleeing from Jezebel who would have him killed. He is exhausted and rests under a tree praying for death to take him. Elijah is given sustenance by an angel of the Lord. He is touched and told twice by the angel to get up and eat. On closer examination, this points to Christ.

Twice in Christ's ministry do we have him undergoing a trial by himself and being ministered to by angels. In both the temptation in the desert scene in Matthew's Gospel (Mt. 4:1-11); and in the agony in the garden scene in Luke’s Gospel (Lk. 22:39-46) angels come to serve him and strengthen him (Lk. 22:39-46). Elijah is seeking to escape from Jezebel through asking for death. In the agony in the garden, Jesus seeks escape from the upcoming passion and death on a cross by asking "if possible" for the "cup to pass from" him. He concludes his prayer with, "Father, not my will, but your will be

done."

Elijah lay down and fell asleep under a tree. Jesus lay down his life and "fell asleep" on a tree.

The Angel bids Elijah to get up and eat or the journey will be too long. Another way this passage is translated is the single word "Arise". Christ arose from the dead after sleeping on the tree. His bread was the will of his Father (Jn. 4:34), his drink is the consolation he finds in all the souls who open to him and quench his "thirst". He is now strengthened for his journey back to the Father where he sits in glory at the Father's right hand.

Jesus himself is the bread of angels offered to us to strengthen us as we arise and go to our Father's house.

Son of Man lifted up in the desert, heal me of the venom of sin.

Son of Man lifted up on the cross, I know you are the Great I AM.

Son of Man lifted up from the earth, draw me unto yourself.

(Jn. 3:14; 8:28; 12:32)

Lord open my lips, and my mouth will give birth to your praise.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Lord open my heart and my spirit shall sing your praise.

Lift up your heart and I will fill it.

Lord open my mind and I will know your will.

Open your mind and I will fill it.

Lord open my ears and I will hear your word.

Open your ears and I will fill them.

Lord open my arms and I will die with your Son on the cross.

Open your arms and I will receive you.


(Ps. 51:15; 81:10)