The Lord Loves the Just: Reflections on the Readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus told us ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17) This week’s readings give us one of the examples of this fulfillment. The first reading from Isaiah tells us that God comes with vindication, opening the eyes of the blind, clearing the ears of the deaf, and giving the mute the ability to sing. He also tells us, “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God.” This brings to mind the words of St. Paul in Romans, “What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31) The heraldic angels, including Gabriel to Mary at the annunciation and to Zechariah foretelling the birth of John the Baptist, also used the phrase, “Be not afraid.” Jesus also questioned the apostles on many occasions asking them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mark 4:40, RSV-CE) With faith we know that God is on our side and we have no cause to be afraid. Bad things may happen to us but if we are living our faith our supernatural lives (our eternal lives) will be preserved.

The themes of faith, justice, and fulfillment continue in the responsorial psalm. There is one slight difference, however. Here it is God who is forever faithful. And thus he does all those things that we see Jesus doing in the New Testament. In fact, as we read this, it calls to mind the passage in Luke’s gospel:

“He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom* into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
“Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
“He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21)

Furthermore, the psalm tells us, “... the LORD raises up those who were bowed down. The LORD loves the just.” Again a reminder to us to live our lives in the Lord.

At first glance the letter of James does not seem to fit in. But, on closer inspection, we see that the main theme of this excerpt is again justice. We are to treat everyone with fairness, regardless of their standing in society. I remember a story my grandmother told me about her brother. Our family had an old 1949 Packard (big car with running boards) that we had gotten from my granduncle, her brother. One day I asked her about the car, and she told how Uncle Henry who, it turns out, was quite well to do, had been gardening and was in dirty overalls when he had occasion to go into town. Passing the automobile dealership, the car caught his eye, and he walked in. All of the old salesmen took one look at him and his clothes and sent the rookie to deal with him. Imagine their surprise when my uncle took out his checkbook and bought the car on the spot. The old adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” certainly was in play that day.

However, James further reminds us that it is generally the poor in the world who are rich in faith. In the Beatitudes we learn, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” (Luke 6:20)

Next, in the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus actually fulfilling some of the prophecies introduced in the earlier readings. There is another interesting aspect for us besides Jesus healing the deaf mute, as prophesied by Isaiah and others. This is the fact that the afflicted man did not ask Jesus to heal him (he couldn’t because of his affliction) but he was brought to Jesus by others. In the same way we bring our intercessory prayers to God through Jesus for our family, friends, relatives, and, yes, even our enemies. While we often ask for things for ourselves, it is important to ask on behalf of others. Praying for the living and the dead is one of the spiritual works of mercy. (See also Catechism of the Catholic Church articles 1096 and 2447.)

Lastly, the final comment in this reading, “He has done all things well,” reminds us of the divinity of Christ. Jesus is the Word of God. John begins his gospel recalling creation, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Creation began with God speaking as John further reminds us, “He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.” (John 1:2-3). And back to Genesis we learn, “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” (Genesis 1:31) Jesus, like the Father and the Trinity, has done all things well.