Bondage is not just about being physically restrained, or not being allowed to do the things that we want to do. Not being free to answer God’s calling to love is also a kind of bondage. Those who live by the flesh will always have things that will hold him back; it could be his wealth, power, ego or pleasures of the flesh. Those who live by the Spirit are able to see that they are giving up something good for something better. In the first reading, we see both Elisha and the Prophet Elijah being asked to give up something quite different. Elisha, on receiving his calling, joyfully went and killed all his oxen, which is symbolic of burning the bridges behind him, in order to follow God more completely and unconditionally. Elijah, in throwing his mantle over Elisha, was yielding his authority as a prophet of God, which is never an easy thing for a man of senior rank to do. It must have taken some humility for him to give up the power and prestige he enjoyed to a younger and less experienced man.