23rd Sunday

Twenty-third Sunday Ordinary
September 10, 2006

"Here is your God...who comes to save you." (Isaiah 35: 4-7). "God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith..." (James 2:1-5). "And immediately the man’s ears were opened...and he spoke plainly." (Mark 7:31-37)

Isaiah has a vision of Israel's liberation from exile in a foreign land. This hope was eventually realized and the people returned to their homeland thanks to a friendly Persian emperor (Cyrus). Things did not turn out quite as they had hoped. There was no golden age of peace and prosperity upon their return. There was a good deal of difficult work rebuilding a Temple in ruins, and restoring the people's devastated morale. There would be more times ahead of bloody conflict among themselves and with more powerful occupiers. Political and military "liberation" rarely if ever lives up to its promise.

Isaiah's vision of being “saved” refers also to spiritual liberation. Salvation is more than "going to heaven". It is God coming with liberation from the consequences of our personal failings, what others have done to us, the ravages of time, disease and physical injuries. It promises release from our fears that life is meaningless or limited to what we experience now. The prophet’s vision is a heavenly one where none of these exist any longer and where God’s radiance penetrates every corner of our world, inside and out. All that Yahweh requests of his people in return for this promise is patient fidelity and hope.

In the gospel Jesus is presented with a man who has a speech and hearing impediment. He cannot hear the word of God nor speak of it to anyone. Jesus takes him away from the crowd of curious onlookers and gives him his hearing and speech. I know a number of people similarly “locked in” from birth or by diseases and accidents. We often referred to these as tragic. The real tragedy is being locked within ourselves without transcendent meaning, hope or vision. The most remarkable thing about the healing of this man was the unlocking of his spirit. I wonder if we don’t act like the curious crowd, eager for the next spectacular sign, and missing this point Touched by the Spirit, the man was now able to publicly proclaim God's presence in a broken world. The miracle in these stories is always that the kingdom of God is among us, even when there are no obvious or spectacular signs. We don't have to wait to "go to heaven" for our salvation Every day we have opportunities to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit and what it means to be "saved".

We might want to look for the miracle in our lives this very day, this very moment, beyond the limitations imposed by life as it was before we knew the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that may be brought to appreciate the miracles right in front of us as much as we long for the dramatic divine interventions.