23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our First Reading today (Isaiah 35:4-7a), Isaiah offers a prophecy of restoration. Written around the year 700 BC, some people see this prophecy as describing what will happen to the Jewish people after the Babylonian Exile which began about 589 BC. The Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the land of Judah and many of its inhabitants were taken as captives to Babylon where they would remain for nearly 70 years. The Jewish people would one day look back upon this humiliating defeat and period of captivity as God’s just punishment for their sins as a people. But Isaiah offers them hope through his prophecy of restoring Israel to its former glory and allowing it to be fruitful again, once they had been chastened for their sinfulness by the Exile. Other scholars would see the words recorded by Isaiah as being a prophecy that would be fulfilled in Jesus several hundred years later. To the Jews in exile, Isaiah said the glory of God and his blessings would be revealed through miraculous signs such as the blind having their sight restored and the mute being able to speak. Isaiah’s prophecy speaks of God coming to the people and offering them “vindication”- freedom from the punishment imposed by the exile.

Jesus is seen as the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, as illustrated when Moses and Elijah appeared next to the glorified Lord in the Transfiguration. In today’s Gospel (Mark 7:31-37), Isaiah’s prophecy is seen as being fulfilled by Jesus as he heals a man who was deaf and mute. Isaiah had foretold that God’s blessing would be accompanied by such healings and here is Jesus, the very Son of God, to bring healing and vindication from the world. But instead of bringing freedom from the Babylonian Exile, Jesus brings freedom from slavery to sin. He offers divine mercy and forgiveness to reconcile us to the Father in heaven, and receive new life – new hope – through he who is the “Living Water,” the “Bread of Life,” and the “Light of the World.”

And this gift of salvation is not just offered to a few but to all, though not all will avail themselves of it. I think it is interesting to note the location of this healing miracle. We are told in the Gospel that Jesus had left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. Tyre and Sidon were in pagan territory, so Jesus left them, passed through Jewish territory, and ended up back in pagan territory in the Decapolis on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It is not clear if the deaf man were Jewish or a pagan, but the fact that Jesus performed this miracle in pagan territory indicates to us that Jesus came to be the universal Savior. He was proclaiming the message of salvation to Jew and Gentile alike. Just as the man receiving the miracle had his ears and mouth opened, we must listen to God’s word in the Bible with open ears, and faithfully proclaim it with open mouths.