The readings for mass today seem to contradict each other. In the first reading from the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah performed a grand and mighty act, by striking the water with his mantle, causing it to divide so he could cross over on dry land with Elisha. Then the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven in a whirlwind. Afterwards, Elisha also struck the water with his mantle and it parted for him just like it had done for Elijah. But, before the prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven, he asked Elisha if there was anything he could do for him. Elisha seemed to be a bit awestruck by the prophet Elijah, so he asked for a double portion of his spirit.
Now, contrast these mighty, powerful, visible acts of great power that was working through these two prophets, with the gospel today. Jesus taught his disciples to do their good deeds in secret, not in full view of anyone else:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father… your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
“When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Jesus taught his disciples to pray in secret, give alms in secret, fast in secret, and do not let anyone else see your righteous deeds. Don’t even let your left hand know what your right is doing.
So, which scriptures should we focus our attention on? Who should we listen to, since the two readings seem to contradict each other?
We should listen to Jesus Christ, of course. There is a danger in reading the bible and interpreting it entirely by ourselves, like many protestants sometimes do. We run the risk of picking something out of context in the bible and giving it more importance than the others. What Jesus Christ said and did, should take precedence over any other writings in the bible, though. In today’s readings for mass, our focus should be on our own personal humility that Jesus is teaching us about in the gospel, not how mighty and powerful the prophets Elijah and Elisha were. (And for heavens sake, we don’t need to get distracted wondering if an alien ship could have actually been the one to take Elijah from the earth.)
Jesus’s words and his example in the scriptures should also carry more weight than even what his Apostles wrote about him. They were only human after all. Saint Paul was famous for admitting he was less than perfect at many things. Peter betrayed Jesus, he admitted to him that he was a sinful man, and Jesus himself had to rebuke Peter on more than one occasion.
Jesus’s words and his example should also be more important to us than the saints. We look up to the saints as our spiritual heroes, but we should never focus our attention on them, more than Christ himself. Even our leaders in the Catholic church are less than perfect people. Jesus Christ is the only perfect person who ever lived. Why would we want to imitate anyone else’s life?
A practical way of understanding this is that if you photocopy an original image, which is photocopied multiple times, the picture degrades a little more each time it is copied. It is much better to make a copy of an original document, than to make a copy of a copy, of a copy, etc. Jesus Christ is the source of our love, why would we want to be like anyone else other than him? The saints became saints because of how they personally interpreted the gospel and lived it out in their own lives, and that is the same way each one of us can become a saint as well.
If you ever find yourself in a dilemma and don’t know the right course of action, even after much prayer and thought, you will never go wrong by imitating Jesus’s own life. Reading the words that Jesus said, paying attention to how he treated people, how he reacted to things, taught others, and the example of how he lived his life is the greatest teacher, counselor and mentor that we could ever want.
There was another verse in the bible that completely merges the example of Christ’s humility, with our need to imitate his life:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Mt 11:29
Daily Mass Readings:
Kings 2: 1, 6-14 / Psalm 31 / Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18
