Scripture Study for

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Isaiah depicts two ways in which the renewal promised by God is manifested:  those who suffer physical maladies will be healed of their infirmities, and the  barren wilderness will be filled with the promise of new life. Just as deprivation and infirmity were considered signs of evil in the world, so this restoration  was perceived as a sign of the transformation that only God can effect. It was a  testimony to God’s presence in the world and to God’s victory over evil. Once  again God reestablished the original order of creation, and all life began again  to flourish. 

In broad and clear strokes, the author of the Letter of James paints a picture of  unacceptable discrimination. He condemns the preference for the man dressed  in fine clothing and the contemptuous way the poor man is treated, thus exposing the community’s bias. Such discrimination is not only an example of social  snobbery, but it is also in direct opposition to the basis upon which the church  was founded, namely, the gathering of all into the reign of God. Such behavior  is condemned for two reasons. First, the people are reestablishing distinctions  where God has eliminated them. Second, their partiality jeopardizes the justice  that they are called to administer. 

Jesus is in Gentile territory. There he heals a deaf man. In an oral culture such  as his, those who cannot hear are at a great disadvantage. They are marginalized  in ways that others are not. Furthermore, hearing symbolizes openness to God.  Jesus unstops the ears of a man who was unable to hear his words, so that now  the man can hear them and can be open to their message. Those who witnessed  this miracle relate the wonders that Jesus can perform to the prophetic promise  of regeneration that will take place during the new age of the reign of God. They  proclaim that Jesus has accomplished here exactly what was to be accomplished  in that time of fulfillment. 

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