Scripture Study for
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:10–11 / Luke 8:8 / Romans 8:18–23 / Matthew 13:1–23 or 13:1–9
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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.