Leave the Oxen
Ordinary Time
Today's reading · 1 Kings 19:19-21
Elijah passed by Elisha and threw his mantle over him. He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. He returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them; using the equipment from the oxen, he boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
Elisha is plowing when Elijah passes and throws his mantle over him. No explanation, no negotiation. Just the weight of the cloak landing on his shoulders, and Elisha already seems to understand what it means. He asks to go back and say goodbye to his family, which is reasonable. What he does next is not: he slaughters the oxen and uses the plowing equipment to boil the meat, then gives it to the people around him and goes.
He doesn't delay. He doesn't hedge. He turns his livelihood into a meal, feeds his community, and walks away. The text doesn't say he sold the animals or stored the yoke for later. It says he broke with the former life and followed. That's the point the passage keeps pressing on: the break is complete.
Most of us follow at a distance and keep the yoke in a shed. We say yes to the call and then quietly hold on to the thing we were called away from, just in case. Elisha doesn't do that. The mantle lands, and everything changes.
There's something clarifying about that kind of decisiveness. It's not recklessness. He still asks to say goodbye. But once he turns back toward Elijah, there's nothing left to return to. He made sure of it. That's a different kind of trust than keeping your options open.
Today's intention
Today, notice what you're still holding onto that you've already said yes to leaving behind.