Homilies
Twenty–third Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 10, 2006
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What’s the Meaning?
In today’s readings for the Mass of the Twenty–third Sunday in Ordinary Time, we learn something important about God as the Physician.
In the first reading, God commands Isaiah to encourage the exiled people of Israel that better days lie ahead. Israel has repented of their evil ways and is, therefore, ready to receive back their land and their freedom.
Isaiah prophecies the following: First, vengeance will be taken on their captors, i.e., Babylon. Second, God will restore their health. The blind, the deaf, the lame, the speechless: all will once again be able to approach Yahweh and the Temple. Third, their land will be made fruitful.
In the Gospel today, we get to experience the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Now that Babylon has been laid waste and Israel has returned home, God has become man and is walking among his chosen people—restoring them to health.
In this story we see a beautiful example of how the God–man, in order to heal someone, is not above rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty. Jesus does the following: he pulls the man aside, sticks his fingers in his ears, spits into his mouth, sticks his fingers down his throat, looks up to Heaven, sighs, and commands: “Be thou open!”
Who would have imagined that this is the kind of thing Isaiah was talking about! When we hear the singing of Handel’s Messiah (a glorious example of the prophecies put to music), we sure aren’t imagining the “Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God” spitting and sticking his fingers down our throats.
But those who saw Jesus act thus knew that this was the man of whom Isaiah had prophesied. The Gospel tells us that the people, “were astounded beyond measure, saying: “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Anyone who walked with Messiah for a while came to realize pretty quickly that this was his way. He was a healer. Like any physician who loves his work and loves the people for whom he is responsible, Jesus looked for ways he could help. He didn’t just wait for people to come to him, he sought them out: the lame, the weak, the widowed, and the poor. The law of love ruled his heart, and he yearned to heal those in need.
He even said this himself: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Mt. 9:12)
Saint James (the Lesser) was keenly aware of this fact, as he was one of the Twelve Apostles who walked with Jesus. It is no wonder that we hear him (in the Epistle today) reprimand those who are mistreating the poor and the sick at Mass. This is exactly opposite of what Jesus would do.
Mass is the place above all places where we receive the healing power of the Physician. If anyone is to be given special treatment, it is the needy. But at minimum, we ought not to be rude to people just because they stink or are in shabby clothes. People who come to the emergency room are not treated according to how pleasing they smell but according to how much blood they've lost.
Saint James suggests that it is the poor who Christ wants to be first in line to meet the Physician. “God has chosen,” says Saint James, “the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom.” If anything, we ought to look upon the poor man coming to Mass not with disdain but rather with a kind of awe.
Our job as Christians, says Saint James is to imitate Christ and have mercy on all, especially those who are in most need of it. As he says later in his Epistle: “Whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law of love, the law that set you free. For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.” (James 2:12–13)
What’s the Message?
Jesus wants us to imitate him. To do so, we need to consider his words and actions seriously. Jesus is the creative and brilliant founder of the Church. While physically walking among us, he boldly reached out to the common folk. He was literally a physician bringing his healing power. This was his very reason from coming to earth in the first place: to heal us. He even referred to himself as a physician (Mt. 9:12).
We are supposed to be walking with the boldness of a physician who has something special to offer. In this case, the healing touch of Jesus. Instead, however, we often walk with a pettiness of a scrooge, trying to preserve our bank accounts and buildings to the point of ignoring the very people we have been deputized to help.
Jesus gave us a good litmus test to know if we are walking with the love of a physician or the coldness of a scrooge. The time when he actually referred to himself as a physician, he was sitting down to dine with tax–collectors and sinners.
We don’t tend to call people tax–collectors or sinners nowadays, but there are people who fit into this category of politically incorrect company. We need to ask ourselves if we are failing to seek out there company. Refraining from acting rude to such individuals is not good enough. We need to actively show mercy to them, for “we will be judged by the law of love.”
What’s the Response?
As artificial as it may seem, perhaps a good response to today’s readings is to get ourselves invited for dinner at the home of an outcast in our parish. We could bring over something special to add to the meal and, while there, act with the graciousness of Jesus. Whatever we might do, Saint James would encourage us to make a practical response to today’s readings, for, as he says: “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14)
To help us act well, we can pray with the Psalmist in today’s Mass:
The Lord gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord watches over the strangers;
The Lord upholds the fatherless and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Praise the Lord, my soul!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
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Contribution by Brother Anthony Myers
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