17th Sunday - Jesus is the new Elisha.

Similarities between Ihs & Elisha

Elisha

Provides supply of oil for a poor widow to save her child

Raises the son of the woman from the dead

Cleanses Naaman the leper

Blinds enemy armies to see heavenly chariots of fire.

Raises a Moabite from dead through the power of his bones.

(20And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.c 21Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet. - 2 Ki 13:20-21

Ihs

Christ provides 12 huge vats of wine for the wedding couple. 180 gallons of wine?

Christ does this with the Widow of Nain

Cleanses 10 lepers, without the Jordan River

“52“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

50When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. 51At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 52The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.

Multiplies bread

The man comes up to Elisha with a tithe.

First Lesson - we all have the desire/necessity to worship God. We will worship something! WE NEED A PLACE TO OFFER FIRST FRUITS!

Wanted to offer right worship to God, through Elisha...so we can offer right worship only through Christ.  Tithing is important here.  What do we do with our money and time?! Do we give God first fruits? How is our worship? Are we prepared with holy body and mind to be here? Or are we just fitting it in? Fitting it in is better than not getting it in.  Moving from prayer into deeper prayer is better.

In 2 Kings 4:42 Baal-shalishah

How far did Shalishah fall? This is like calling this...Krishna Palm Desert, or Thanos Palm Desert, Sauron Palm Desert, Darth Vader Palm Desert, Beelzubul Palm Desert, Moloch Palm Desert,

[Huitzilopochtli (Wich-i-lo-potcht-li) Palm Desert (demon sun god who demanded Aztec human sacrifices), Santa Muerte Palm Desert], for Spanish.

Notice too that the servant of Elisha was doubtful, a little unfaithful… he had the right company, but would later steal from Elisha after Elisha cured Naaman...and so the leprosy that left Naaman came upon Gehazi…

Bad worship = Self Condemnation!

St. Jerome (Use?)

"performed miracles among the Jews: he cured paralytics; he cleansed lepers; he raised the dead to life. But other prophets had done that too. He changed a few loaves into many and fed a countless multitude. But Elisha did that. What new thing, then, did he do to merit a new song? Would you know what he did that was new? God died as man that humankind might live; the Son of God was crucified that he might lift us up to heaven"https://ref.ly/o/accsrevot05/521191?length=430. Homilies on the Psalms 25 (Ps 97[98])

Christ does so for 5,000 men (not counting family) and does so twice! This Miracle recorded in all Gospels

First for the Jews and then For the Gentiles (Mark 6 & Mark 8)

How much money would it cost?!

St. Philip tells us! - 200 denarii, 300 denarii was like a years wage (Min wage = $32,000).  $20,000 is not enough to feed these 20,000 people?!

Christ over does himself too! (Want some protein?! That would cost the caterers more than double, fish is more expensive than bread…sure, have your fill!)

The Green Grass!

Sat in verdant pastures. Only God gives rest in OT. Christ is God.  Only God gives food to his people in due time.

Psalm 23:1–2

A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me

This is one of the only times we hear about St. Phillip. Why was he asked? He asked Phillip because Phillip was the most worried about this (Lapide). The Lord challenges us each in our concerns. “Do you trust me?, do you trust me? Do you trust me?!”

when we are faithful in little matters...

Gave thanks EUCHARISTHESAS

Very important, there is no Last Supper Words of Institution Narrative in John. John provides this discourse as backup to the other Gospels,

Jesus has people recline (1), he takes bread (2), offered thanks (3), broke (4), & gave out (5) the fragments or klasmata.

The Greek of Jesus’ command to gather the fragments—klasmata—is associated with Eucharist (fragments) in the Didache, an early Christian manual. It likens the gathering of the Church for Eucharist to the gathering of eucharistic fragments into one. This is Paul’s vision of unity as well—“one body and one Spirit” (Eph 4:4)

12 baskets to go into the world. To all the tribes of Israel. And give them the Eucharisted bread.  Where are the twelve tribes? All over the world! And instead of plucking them all out from the world and giving them their inheritance, He brings in the Gentile nations! You and I!

And let’s be honest, we all wish we had super powers. We all wish we could cure the sick and raise the dead. We all wish we could levitate and bilocate, reading souls, knowing the future, Midas Touch. We all want the greatest spiritual gifts!

Not like those lame gifts like administration and feeding the poor…

But what does St. Paul say is the greatest spiritual gift? Love. Agape. Charity. We get a nice little litany today in Ephesians 4, a great Examination of Conscience chapter:

Ephesians 4:1–3 “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:” …

And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

We don’t see great miracles now...we don’t have baskets of food left over...but we kind of do, because we live in times where we’ve never had so much food…(The kid was probably there to sell his dad’s catch and his mom’s baking)... but what we share in here is better than any leftovers. We enter into the wedding banquet, the great feast, where we are given Christ, but a foretaste, the appetizer of heaven.

Resp Psalm: The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The eyes of all look hopefully to you,

   and you give them their food in due season;

you open your hand

   and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Ps145:15-16

We catch the fragments. The Eucharist is the fragments that we receive. And yet, we aren’t just receiving the leftover bread from centuries ago, we are receiving a greater miracle than the one the peoples experienced. WE BELIEVE AND DO RECEIVE CHRIST HIMSELF. This is why you have to be Catholic to receive and make your first communion. This is why you have to be in a state of grace. If you were going to have dinner with Christ tonight, just to eat with him you would have to be dressed to the nines. If Christ is going to enter your body, what is the state of your soul? Just as worship informs your life … so too your life will inform your worship, and we do not want to get this wrong.