Scripture Study for

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

The context of the oracle from Isaiah is a time period or an  experience of oppression or military conquest. The oracle contains  elements common to many oracles of salvation, such as the  exhortation to “be strong, fear not.” Such an exhortation responds  to a sense of being defeated and abandoned by God, which is how  recurrent political and military oppression at the hands of others  was likely to be interpreted. Here the prophet assures the people  that God has not in fact abandoned them; God is acting now to  “vindicate” them and to bring about a change of fortune. This is  exemplified by healing—in the human realm afflictions cease, and in  the natural realm the infertile desert blossoms. 

James continues to develop his thoughts regarding how to be  “doers of the word and not hearers only.” One clear manifestation  of this is to “keep oneself unstained by the world,” which is to say,  to refuse to live according the greater society’s values, such as the  elevation of the rich over the poor and the treatment of the poor  with contempt. James has already noted that pure religion involves  caring for the vulnerable and the poor, who have a special place in  God’s heart, and who will inherit the kingdom. This is the opposite  of the world’s perspective. Those who would be doers of the word of  truth must be prepared to reject the privileges and privileging of the  rich and the powerful. 

The Decapolis was a group of ten autonomous city-states, most of  them east of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus here enters Gentile territory. Yet  here also the people have heard of him and immediately approach  him with a deaf man for healing. It is unusual for Jesus to be depicted  performing a healing ritual (see, though, 8:22–26; John 9:6–7). 

Usually he either touches the sick or simply proclaims that they are  healed. Jesus was not limited to one approach to healing. The man  is cured, the people are amazed, and word spreads. The Decapolis  context of all this indicates that the reign of God is being actively  extended beyond the ethnic and geographical borders of Israel.

Living the Word logo

Copyright © 2021, 2020, 2019, 2012, 2011, 2010 World Library Publications, a div. of GIA Publications, Inc. www.giamusic.com
All rights reserved. Used by permission.