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From: 1 Kings 19:19-21

The call of Elisha

[19] So he departed from thee, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was
ploughing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth.
Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. [20] And he left the oxen,
and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then
I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to
you?” [21] And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and
slew them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, and gave it to the
people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered to
him.

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Commentary:

19-21. Elisha’s response to Elijah’s call is quite exemplary: he leaves everything
behind and puts himself at the disposal of the prophet. That will be how the apos-
tles respond to Christ (cf. Mt 4:20, 22; etc.), and it should be how anyone responds
when the Lord calls him or her to a mission which involves leaving everything. But
the call issued by Jesus is more pressing than Elijah’s, as can be seen from the
Gospel passage where Jesus, in response to someone who says, “I will follow
you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home,” replies, “No one who
puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:61-
62). Obedience to a call involves a radical self-surrender: “Detach yourself from
people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says Pope St. Gregory, the
devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he comes to battle. If you go
clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the ground: for he will have some-
thing to catch you by” (St. J. Escriva, The Way, 149).

The name “Elisha” means “My God saves” and it epitomizes this prophet, just as
the name “Elijah” catches the essence of that prophet’s message: “My God is the
Lord.”

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.