GOSPEL, FIRST READING & PSALM TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):
...and in that prophecy one of the ways you will know that the new exodus has come is that God is going to perform certain miracles, which includes making the deaf to hear, right. So I will just give you the key verses here, Isaiah 35:4-7, it says this:
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Okay, so you don’t have to look too hard to see the immediate significance of this prophecy for Jesus' action. First, Isaiah's prophesying the coming of God. What will happen when God comes? Well two key elements here are being described. The ears of the deaf are going to be unstopped and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. So there we find a clue as to why Jesus heals the man in the way he does. Why does he put his fingers into the man's ears and say be opened? Because he is deliberately fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 35 that when God comes the ears of the deaf will be unstopped, they’ll be opened. Why does he touch the man's tongue, right? Well because he's deliberately fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 35 that the tongue of the mute, of the dumb person, will sing for joy, right, at the healing that they received. So this is a really fascinating prophecy. Of course it also mentioned the eyes of the blind being opened, we’ve seen that elsewhere in the gospel where Jesus heals the blind.
So what is Jesus doing? This is so crucial. Jesus is deliberately enacting in his own person the miracles that Isaiah said God would perform at the time of the new exodus. So the healing of the man who was deaf and mute isn't just a revelation of Jesus' messianic identity, it is that, the healing of the man who is deaf and mute isn't just a sign that the age of salvation has come, it is that, but the healing of the man who was deaf and mute is also a revelation of the divinity of Jesus. The healing of the man who was deaf and mute is also a revelation of the fact that what the Old Testament says God would do, Jesus now does himself.
SECOND READING TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):
The 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year B continues the Church's journey through the wonderful Catholic Epistle of James, and here we read from James 2:1-5 on this interesting description of an early Christian liturgical assembly. So if you have ever wondered what was it like in the early Church when they gathered to worship, 1st Corinthians 10 and 11 is one of the most important passages, but here James 2 does give us a little window into some of the problems...
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