Walking with Jesus: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 35:4-7; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37

How do I feel about myself? Am I comfortable living within my own skin these days? Do negative comments … reactions from others … disturb me? When people I have a relationship with put me down, what is my reaction? Have I developed the persona that “insults roll off my back?”

When I get the urge to put myself down, or when others put me down, I can so easily carry this over to God feeling the same way about me. Yet if God did not want me to be born ... I wouldn’t have been born. So there must be and is a value and specific reason I was born: to be the loving person God sees in me and needs me to be. Overcoming negativity and realizing I’m loved at every moment of my existence is God’s message to each of us every day. Emily Dickinson published the following poem in 1891 ... a poem that seems to resonate with many.

I’m nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell! They’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog
To tell your name the lifelong day to an admiring bog!

[Note: A bog is a place where a frog lives … so all day long it hears its own voice and those of other frogs croaking about themselves.]

This I’m Nobody poem has been recognized as Dickinson’s classic and most popular poem. Why? Simply because it addresses a universal feeling that exists in many of us: I want to be accepted, wanted, appreciated … but I’m an outsider. The poem is a me against them challenge. It really challenges the somebodies to recognize the importance of those below them.

Jesus refers to an oracle of Isaiah in our first reading. This is the second of four lengthy oracles describing the character of God’s ideal servant. The Servant represents an Israel finally prepared to put the kingdom of God first. Isaiah starts off by portraying the people as rebels who refused to cooperate with God’s plan: I know what’s best for me. The Servant is the only one who listens and responds to God’s plan and puts it into action. Isaiah writes, “Be strong, fear not.” [Isaiah 35:4] The people have a defeatist attitude and feel they have been abandoned by God. God hasn’t done this and, “He comes in vindication” [Isaiah 35:4]. God will save the people and restore them to their homeland, and is restoring a sense of entitlement ... a change of fortune.

James continues his commentary from last week about how to be hearers and doers of the Word of God. How do we do this today? The message is the same: not to be caught up in society’s values. This is so prominently seen in the advancement of the rich over the poor, continuously putting them down. James has already spoken about how the poor and the vulnerable have a special place in God’s heart and that God has promised them the kingdom. All the more reason we must reject the privileges and rights of a higher class and just be people of love, care, commitment.

The Decapolis are ten “city-states” built along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Today Jesus enters a Gentile area, yet it is obvious that they have heard of Him and are anxious for Him to heal a deaf man. Today’s miracle is different. Normally the people come to Jesus, or He sees a person and heals them. Today we see a “ritual-like” miracle. Jesus so often touches the people and they are healed. This time He takes the man aside. Why? Does He want to make this miracle much more personal? Does He want the man to see God’s love and care without others around? Our own conclusions: The man is cured and the people are amazed and an unusual closure takes place. Jesus commands the people not to tell anyone what He has just done. Why keep it secret? This occurs in other places; scholars refer to this as the “Messianic Secret.” Jesus is more than just a miracle worker; He is the Son of God: not because He performs miracles but because He has come for a higher reason: to die and rise and redeem us, letting all know the total extent of God’s mission of love. And we are called to think like Christians, feel like Christians and act as Christians. We are not nobodies — we have been created to make a difference. How am I doing? Where do I need God’s help today? God loves us that much and more.

So I reflect on:

• The Pandemic has shown us that much of life is not under our control. This brings anxiety. How much am I turning and relying on God?
• Remember pre-COVID plans? So much has turned around in our lives. Do we realize that we have been asked to trust God, no matter where life takes us?

Sacred Space 2021 states:

“The prophet Isaiah had forewarned the people that the occurrence of cures and miracles of all kinds would be the sign that the age of Messiah had dawned. ‘He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.’ [Isaiah 35: 4-5]

“Jesus tries to bind the onlookers to silence about His identity. The Messiah expected by the Jews was a political/military as well as religious figure, so He was probably unwilling to use such a title, at least without some qualifications, to avoid provoking the Roman authorities.”