Scripture Study for
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 35:4–7a / Psalm 146:1b / James 2:1–5 / Mark 7:31–37
<< Back to LECTIONARY RESOURCES
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.