Brief synopsis of the readings In the First Book of Kings God instructed Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor. But when Elijah approached Elisha, Elisha asked to kiss his parents goodbye first. Elijah replied: “Go, go back; for have I done anything to you? Elisha then sacrificed twelve oxen and fed his servants, after which he followed Elijah. Luke describes a time close to Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. His disciples were rebuffed when they attempted to make preparations for him as this was a Samaritan village. His disciples offered to “call down fire from heaven to burn them up” but Jesus rebuked them. Jesus saw someone and said: “Follow me.” The person replied “Let me go and bury my father first.” Jesus then said to him: “Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”
On first reading both First Kings and Luke many of us find ourselves puzzled. In both readings we see someone who has agreed to follow Elijah or Jesus and they suggest only one condition: let me say goodbye to my family. The call to discipleship, both for Elisha and the unnamed follower of Jesus must have recognized on some level that they didn’t know where they were going or if they were going to return.
But were they supposed to leave without a word? After all doesn’t the fourth commandment instruct us to honor our parents? Wouldn’t leaving be seen as at least disrespectful, if not sinful?
Well, let’s pull back on the lens and see these events in a larger context. Our parents, and indeed all of our ancestors, are deserving of respect. More than that, if they have the good fortune of old age they often need our assistance. In my ongoing quest to trace my family tree I often see in census records families living in the same household with an elderly parent. Here in the United States the first Social Security check was issued on January 31, 1940. At that time some companies paid out pensions but they didn’t become popular until the 1950s. In other words when our elders could no longer work they needed someone to care for them and most of the time that fell to one of the children.
But are Elijah and Jesus really demanding their disciples abandon their parents to abject poverty? I don’t think so. Again and again we read about the need to care for the widow, orphan and resident alien; Jesus also takes a hard line on divorce at least in part because it often led the former wife into poverty.
I think these readings call us to decide which way we’re going to look: backward or forward. Put another way, do we place our hopes and dreams in the past, hoping to restore something that’s been lost? Or do we look boldly into our future in the belief that our best days await us?
The answer is not as simple as we may think. When I was in high school in the 1970s I was amused by the nostalgia for the 1950s. Each week from 1974 to 1984 millions of Americans tuned into a situation comedy called “Happy Days.” It took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1950s and featured a wholesome and intact family, the Cunninghams. In the 1970s we were still reeling from the War in Vietnam and Watergate, and many looked on the 1950s as some type of “Paradise Lost” that we needed to recapture.
Thing is, the 1950s were a far cry from paradise. In 1955 a black teenager named Emmett Till was beaten to death after he was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. Dozens of members of the entertainment industry were “blacklisted” and not permitted to work after they were falsely accused of supporting a communist overthrow of the country. In 2016 and 2020 a man ran for President under the banner of “Make America Great Again.” Easy for him to say as he was white, wealthy, and heterosexual.
Pleases understand I’m not attempting to criminalize nostalgia. Trying something new means that at times we will find we made things worse and reverting back to a belief or practice makes sense. In the same vein we are all in need of some form of reformation from time to time. But we err when we hold fast not to reformation but retreat.
In the 1960s Pope John XXIII called a worldwide council (Vatican II) that changed many of our practices as Catholics. Those changes didn’t always happen smoothly but an overwhelming majority of Catholics found them refreshing. Alas, a small but vocal group of Catholics felt those changes led us astray and continue to demand that they be eliminated and we revert to the Church of the 1950s and earlier.
If we believe what we say we believe about the building of the Kingdom of God we need to recognize that Jesus promised us progress and gave us the tools to build that Kingdom. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, discovered through prayer and discussion with others, we see things different. More importantly, we do things differently.
In Exodus 35:2 we are told that anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death. Today not even the most orthodox Jew still believes this. St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) taught that anyone who died without being baptized, even infants, were condemned to Hell. This caused generations of new parents to fear that “something would happen” and their child would be denied salvation. Later on many believed that babies and children without sin were sent to “limbo,” a place where they wouldn’t suffer but also would not be with God. That also went by the wayside. Finally in 1838 the Jesuits in Maryland sold 272 slaves to plantations in Louisiana to raise money. The Jesuits are now working to make reparations to the descendants of those slaves.
If these events horrify us, good. It means that as we continue to listen to the Spirit, as we come to a better understanding of ourselves and each other, and as we continue to build the Kingdom we look with regret of our past actions and look with determination of our future.
And as for our parents we should also assure them that they will not be left behind.