Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23, Cycle B

As if to compensate for the paucity of direct proclamation of the gospel in the texts that were used last Sunday, those who selected the readings for this lectionary have provided clear expressions of the gospel in the texts selected for next Sunday. As we read these texts, it is as if we are in Eden in an orchard filled with many varieties of fresh fruit that is ours for the picking! From among these rich resources we can pick as much as we can use and give away this week and next Sunday.

Isaiah 35:4-7a

It is after long periods of bad news or of no news at all that good news is most appreciated. Certainly the Israelite exiles whose parents and grandparents had been deported from Jerusalem to Babylon and had lived there against their will among people who had dominated them and despised them for so many decades welcomed this message that the Lord God — now perceived as not merely the God of the nation Israel but the Creator and Ruler of the universe — would soon be coming with resolute strength and determination to rescue them. The overall theme of the extensive Isaiah traditions is clearly expressed in this text. Here as elsewhere in the Isaiah document this theme is “Do not give up! God will fight for you! It is not by your strength but by God’s power and strength that you will prevail.” Therefore, we read in this text, “Be strong! Do not be afraid!” Human infirmities of all kinds will be removed when the Lord comes. The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, and those who cannot talk will sing for joy! When the Lord God comes, it will be natural to assume that the all of the limitations of nature within Israel will be removed. Dry, barren, useless desert land will become well-watered, useful, productive soil for the growing of fruit trees and crops and the grazing of cattle. The land and the people will be even better and more productive than they had been before at the height of their productivity during the reigns of David and of Solomon. This enthusiastic message of joyful expectations was certainly needed by the exiles in Babylon. We are happy to hear it also today, whatever our conditions may be.

From our historical perspective, we realize that neither the Israelite people nor the land was refreshed to the extent proclaimed here when the small groups of exiles trickled back to Jerusalem after Babylon had fallen to the Medes and to the Persians. In part, there has been fulfillment theologically for those of us who are Christians in the Gospel According to Mark 7:24-37 text appointed for this occasion and for Jews in the extensive irrigation projects that have turned substantial desolate areas of the land of Israel into productive farms. For both Christians and Jews, however, the complete fulfillment of the enthusiastic prediction of Isaiah 35:4-7a is still to come. As Christians and as Jews together we stand in need of this good news and of its still future total fulfillment. We stand together in faith in God who alone can make these things occur. Until that day, we praise the Lord God for what has been done, as in the words of the beautiful Psalm 146.

Psalm 146

It is to the Immortal, Just, and Gracious God rather than to mortal, unjust, and transient human beings that we should turn with our thanks and praise as Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all others. Though less specifically tied to the return of the Israelite exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem, the hopes expressed in this psalm are quite similar to those of Isaiah 35:4-7a.

Mark 7:24-37

Here, as in so many other texts in “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mark) and in related texts within the other Gospels in our New Testament, followers of Jesus during the second half of the 1st century of the common era were claiming that within the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as the Risen Christ the expectations of the writers of Isaiah 35:4-7a, Psalm 146, and many other texts from the Older Testament had been fulfilled. The geography of the Mark 7:24-37 account (Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis) suggests that the fulfillment was perceived to have occurred not only within Israel geographically and theologically, but among non-Jews and beyond the land of Israel as well.

From the vantage point of our Christian faith, we have no reason to question the fulfillment of these expectations within the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus perceived as the Risen Christ. We can note, however, that within the context of the early followers of Jesus the fulfillment of the expectations of the Isaiah 35:4-7a tradition, Psalm 146, and other similar texts from the Older Testament within the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was necessary in order to support the claims of followers of Jesus during the latter decades of the 1st century and later that Jesus as the Risen Christ is indeed the Son of God, the Representative of God, the Lord God Incarnate. Anything less than accounts such as Mark 7:24-37 of Jesus’ healing power would have been inadequate. And so we proclaim this Mark 7:24-37 account today and next Sunday, with added appreciation to God for the healing powers that God makes available for us during our lifetimes through medical healing, surgical healing, psychiatric healing, and the healing power of faith.

James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17

This text reminds us of the importance of our faith being actively demonstrated and used in actions of love for other people. This is as important and essential today as it has ever been. These actions of love for other people should always be done in grateful response to God who provides every gift. Faith by itself, if it is not put into practice, is useless, according to the writer of James 2:17. Would the Apostle Paul have agreed? What do you think? Is not a creative tension between the importance of faith in God and an appropriate response to God in what we do better than either faith alone without good works or good works alone without faith? This creative tension is what we see when we look at the entire biblical account rather than at merely a portion of it.

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

The wisdom expressed here is that a good name is far more valuable than are great riches, that those who are affluent should share their food with the poor, and that those who are rich and powerful should not rob and crush those who are weak and in need. God is the Creator of both the rich and the poor, and when both die they will meet together for whatever their Creator will do to them and for them.

Psalm 125

As presented by the psalmist, those who trust in the Lord are established as firmly as is the bedrock on which Jerusalem is built. The Lord God, rather than their enemies, is camped around the city of Jerusalem to protect God’s people as long as they trust in the Lord God. The Lord God is asked to do good things for those who do whatever is good, for those who avoid evil and are upright and righteous. For all who trust in the Lord, this is indeed good news. For those who do not, they have every reason to be afraid.