Homily | June 10, 2026 | Choose Your God | (Episode 155)

One of the most dangerous places a Christian can live is not in outright rebellion against God.

It is indecision.

It is in trying to keep one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world.

That's exactly the situation Elijah confronts in today's first reading.

He stands before the people of Israel on Mount Carmel and asks one of the most important questions How long will you straddle the issue?

If the Lord is God, follow him, if Baal, follow him.

The people want both.

They want God, but they also want Baal.

They want faith, but they also want comfort.

They want to worship, but they also want to fit into the surrounding culture.

And Elijah exposes the problem.

You cannot serve two masters.

Eventually a choice must be made.

And what's fascinating is the response of the people.

Scripture says the people, however, did not answer him.

Silence, because deep down they knew he was right.

The greatest spiritual battles are often not between good and evil, they are between total commitment and partial commitment.

Most people in Israel had not formally rejected God.

They had simply stopped putting him first.

And if we're honest, that temptation is still alive today.

We can believe in God and yet structure our lives around something else.

We can come to mass and say all of our prayers and still make success, things, achievements.

That's our God, the real God.

We can pray and still make money our security, our comfort.

We can profess faith and still seek the approval of others more than the approval of God.

Modern idols don't usually look like statues.

They look like careers, popularity, possessions, politics, entertainment, control, or even ourselves.

Anything that takes God's place before an idol.

Elijah's challenge is just as relevant today as it was three thousand years ago.

Who's really first in your life?

That comes down to a very dramatic showdown.

Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal spend the entire day shouting, dancing, pleading, and even cutting themselves, and nothing happens.

No fire, no voice, no answer.

Why because Baal is not real?

Then Elijah steps forward.

Notice the contrast.

There's no frenzy, no manipulation, no spectacle, just a simple prayer.

Answer me, Lord, that this people may know that you are God.

And immediately fire falls from heaven.

What strikes me most about this story is that Elijah first repairs the broken altar.

Before the fire comes, the altar must be rebuilt.

I think that's the lesson for all of us.

Many people want the fire of God.

They want the passion, they want spiritual renewal, they want a deeper relationship with Christ, but they do not want to rebuild the altar.

They do not want to return to prayer, to commitment, to structure.

They don't want to return a confession.

They don't want to forgive that impossible relationship.

They do not want to reorder their priorities.

Yet something that is throughout Scripture is that renewal always begins with rebuilding the altar.

It begins with putting God back where he belongs.

And when that happens, the fire comes, it rains down.

Now, if we look at the gospel, it sheds even more light on this.

Jesus says, I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill.

In other words, Jesus is not creating a new religion disconnected from the Old Testament.

No, everything that God began in Israel reaches its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

The law, the prophets, the sacrifices, the covenant, all of it points towards Jesus.

And then Jesus says something that many people today need to hear.

Whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Notice that Jesus does not separate love from obedience.

In our culture, people often say, I love God, but I don't want anyone telling me how to live.

I think I know what I need to do.

Jesus never speaks that way.

For him, love and obedience belong together.

Not because God wants to control us, but because God wants to save us.

Every commandment is ultimately an expression of God's love.

Every commandment is a path towards freedom.

The problem with idols is that they always promise freedom and eventually produce slavery.

God's commandments sometimes feel demanding, but they always lead to life.

So perhaps today, our readings invite us to ask two questions.

First, what is competing with God for first place in our life?

What is the Baal I am tempted to serve?

And second, what altar needs rebuilding?

Maybe it's my daily prayer.

Maybe it's a deeper commitment to the Lord.

Maybe it's returning to Sunday Mass faithfully every week.

Maybe it's confession after being away for so long, or maybe even repairing a broken relationship.

The people on Mount Carmel finally fell to their knees and cried out, The Lord is God.

The Lord is God.

That is the decision every disciple must eventually make, not just with our lips, not just on Sundays, but with our whole lives.

Because Christianity was never meant to be one commitment among a many.

It is meant to be the very center for which everything else flows.

And when God is truly first in your life, the fire will reign down.

Amen.