Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
September 06, 2015 9:00 am · Deacon Keith Boswell
It would be easy to just pass this off as just another healing story and daydream about the rest of this long weekend. But there is a lot to consider here. In the first reading from Isaiah, we heard about the hope of the one who was to come. We read that then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf will be cleared, then will the lame leap like a stag, then will the tongue of the mute will sing. Yes this was 750 years before Christ, but the people knew that someday there would be a time of unbelievable happiness.
In the second reading we heard how important it is to judge people equally. It's human nature to gravitate to celebrities. If it wasn't true, many of the TV shows would be cancelled. We want to be part of the in crowd. We feel that the rich and famous have some rare quality that we want to be near. We hope a little rubs off. The Gospel reading brings it all together. In the second sentence we read, "and people brought to Him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged Him to lay his hand on him." The important word here is "people", in Christ's time being disabled was punishement for some kind of sin.
