How long do you halt between two sides? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. – 3 Kings 18:21 (Douay-Rheims)
How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Ba′al, then follow him. – 1 Kings 18:21 (RSV-CE)
How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him. – 1 Kings 18:21 (NABRE)
Elijah and the prophets of Baal offer the same sacrifice. One to false gods, the other to God. Both look the same, but look closer.
Elijah rebuilds the altar first, then arranges the wood and places upon it the sacrifice. The false prophets lay down wood and place the sacrifice upon it. Look closer.
The prophets of Baal pour forth many words and actions calling upon their gods. Elijah pours forth water and speaks to the Lord. Look closer.
The sacrifice of the prophets of Baal is left untouched, ignored. The sacrifice of Elijah is consumed by the fire of God entirely; bullock, wood, stones, dust, and water are consumed. Look even closer.
What do we see in Elijah’s sacrificial offering? Water and Fire. The water sanctifies. The fire consumes. We see here an image, a type, a foreshadowing of things to come. The waters of Baptism cleanse us and sanctify us. How many times did Elijah ask that the water be poured over the sacrifice? Three times as if baptizing the offering in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! The fire of the Holy Spirit burns our offerings of praise creating a sweet incense before the Lord. Like the Burning Bush, the Holy Spirit burns but does not consume because, cleansed of our sins through baptism, we are holy ground; a temple of the Holy Spirit! Christ says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” and “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!”
What is it that ties these images together in our minds and in reality? My brothers and sisters, it is the wood, the wood of the Cross. The wood connects Elijah’s sacrifice to the altar. The wood of the Cross: unchanging, undiminishing, unconsumed is seen in the figure of the burning bush! The wood of the Cross is what connects the world to the Father through the Son by the fire of the Holy Spirit!
Elijah says, “How long will you straddle the issue?…How long will you go limping with two different opinions?…How long do you halt between two sides?” Choose this day whom you will serve! Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword!” He has come to knock us off of the fence! He has come, like Elijah, to bring division. He has come to force the lukewarm to choose! Choose today: God or Baal, God or Mammon, God or the world, God or the flesh, the Cross or comfort! Choose!
Jesus is the new Elijah; the divider of the people. Place yourself upon the new altar. Be baptized and cleansed! Cry out from your position on the wood of the Cross, not my will be done; Lord send forth your Holy Spirit and consume my sins, my suffering, make of my life a holy offering! Remember, though, this self-offering of all that you have and all that you are is not a one-time choice for the Lord tells us, “…he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.” It is a daily renewal of the sacrifice of our lives!
How long will you go limping with two different opinions? I love this translation for it is truly sin that causes us to limp spiritually. We want to love the Lord as we should but we also love the things of this world. We want to fast but we love cake. We want to pray but we love to scroll through our phones. We want to give alms but we also want to shop on Amazon. We cry out with St. Paul,
For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if [I] do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Christ answers simply,
Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
There is no longer an excuse to limp or straddle the fence. There is no reason to be anxious. There are no more reasons to worry. Christ has conquered all! Be refreshed in the waters of your baptism! Call down the fire of the Holy Spirit! Embrace the wood of the Cross!
James M. Hahn, Author 