Scripture Study for

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

The first reading concludes chapters 40–55 of Isaiah, most of which  come from the end of the exilic period. This section of Isaiah, which  focuses on God’s intention to restore a people under judgment, begins  with attention to God’s “word” as sure and effective (40:5, 8). What  God announces will happen simply because it is the word of God.  Now God promises that repentant sinners will find mercy because,  unlike human beings, God does not nurse grudges but is instead  “generous in forgiving” (55:7). Those who cannot believe in God’s  mercy or in the divine intention to save are exhorted to trust in the  always-efficacious word of God. 

Continuing his line of argument from the last couple of weeks,  Paul reflects on what it means to have died with Christ. Not only  have the baptized, now “in Christ,” been released from slavery to sin  and death, they have also been adopted as God’s children and heirs  along with Christ. But this inheritance, which is their glorification,  comes with a price, suffering (8:14–17), which is nevertheless a  small price to pay for what awaits them. And not only them, but  all of creation, which right now is also subject to death. Just as “the  children of God,” who in their physical bodies share in the corruption  of the created world, will one day experience the “redemption of our  bodies,” so too will all creation be redeemed. 

Jesus’ parable describes the three classic obstacles to doing the will  of God: the evil one, who prevents the word from being truly heard;  the flesh, that part of the human person that will abandon God’s will  if it means struggle or trouble; and the world, those aspects of human  society that are opposed to God, yet appealing to the flesh. Jesus speaks  in enigmatic parables because the kingdom is only for those who are  willing to put in the time and struggle to understand its proclamation,  which cannot be appreciated on a single, simple hearing. The medium,  then, is the message: the kingdom of God, in which the will of God is  known and lived, is for those who are willing to sacrifice to enter it.  This has been Jesus’ message from the beginning.

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