Elijah was one of the most important prophets for the Jews and it was he that appeared with Moses at the Transfiguration of Our Lord. In today’s reading he had given up hope, having been threatened with death by the wicked Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19). Often in times of crisis God appears to be absent; but he has his own way of doing things. In Elijah’s case he was fed by a scone cooked on hot stones. He was sustained for his long journey. It is an image we can carry into the New Testament, where Jesus described himself as the “living bread”. This food sustains us in our journey through life, as Elijah’s scone sustained him.
In the first centuries of the church, there were many heated discussions about the nature(s) of Christ and his relationship with the Father. It is not surprising, then, that the people who knew his background could only see him as a human being. This is reassuring for us because we can stand in awe at the God who was prepared to join us fully in the human condition.
In the Eucharist we receive him fully, body, blood, soul and divinity. We receive him in faith because his entire self-giving is a mystery that we cannot fully understand.