“Jesus is the Only Gospel” | 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
5 September 2021
Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Naperville —

Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not! Here is your God,
he comes with vindication; with divine recompense
he comes to save you.

—

Ah yes, the coming of the Lord in all his power. Ah yes, God coming with vindication.
Ah yes, divine recompense.

What happens next? What is the result of the divine recompense coming to the earth? Fire? Brimstone? Destruction? Wailing?

One beautiful thing about the Old Testament prophets is that in their words we can begin to put together a fairly accurate description not only of the redemption that the God of Israel has in mind for his people, but also of what kind of redeemer, what kind of God, we might be dealing with in the first place.

“With divine recompense he comes to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;

then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Singing, leaping, seeing, hearing.

The people to whom Isaiah addressed these words of the Lord were not entirely used to singing or leaping when they were hearing them; and although in that moment they were hearing and seeing the sounds and sights of the city of Babylon where theyâ€d been sent on exile…they were not hearing the sounds or seeing the sights that they truly craved: the life and bustle and activity of Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the City of David,

their home.

A few months ago, we were listening to the words of Jeremiah as he foretold this exile if the Israelites did not get their act together; divine recompense would be theirs in abundance if they continued in their slow (and sometimes fast) falling away from the covenant established with them by God.

The place theyâ€d waited 40 years to see, the place that had been given to them; He told them heâ€d give them a land “of houses filled with goods that they did not fill; of cisterns which they did not dig; of fertile vineyards and olive trees which they did not plant.” He said that in Deuteronomy 6:11; Deuteronomy 6:12 says so clearly: “take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

And what did they do? They forgot the Lord, their God. And what did he do? If they canâ€t place nicely with what had been given to them, theyâ€d lose. And they lost it.

The Babylonians, under the leadership of King Nebuchednezzar, swooped in and conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and took the people out of this promised land in the midst of a broken covenant and shipped them off as exiles into a foreign land.

The first reading today is from the prophet Isaiah, who we can call the Prophet of the Exile. In the midst of this devastating experience – literally the worst thing that could have happened – a voice appears and begins to preach something unexpected.

The reading today from Isaiah 35 comes near the end of the first section of Isaiahâ€s book, and comes to us on the eve of the redemption of Israel from Babylon and their restoration in Jerusalem.

The Babylonian empire did not last very long. It declined very quickly following the death of King Nebuchednezzar in the year 562 BC. A man from nowhere named Cyrus, the king of Persia, had managed to raise himself from being virtually unknown in the corner of Elam; Cyrus and the Persians succeeded in defeating the major powers of the Near East, the Median empire in 550 and the Babylonian empire in 539 BC.

It was in the midst of these events that a prophet rose up who was able to lift the meaning of these geo-political events from mere political history to beginning to see and understand these events in the context of the great drama of redemption of the chosen people by the power of God. Isaiah “proclaimed that the Lord was about to redeem his people, that Babylon would fall, and that Cyrus, who had been called and empowered by the Lord tp carry out his will in history,” would play the crucial role in returning Israel to Mount Zion and in the restoration of Jerusalem.

The message of Isaiah, a message ultimately of hope, a message which foretells the return of Godâ€s people to the land theyâ€d lost in disobedience, is an ageless message. “It is prophecy tempered with human tears, mixed with a joy that heals all scars, clearing a way for understanding the future in spite of the present. No words have ever gone further in offering comfort when the sick world cries.” (These quotes from Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, 145)

God orchestrates – in his mercy – the return of his people to the land heâ€d promised them. Just as before Isaiah could preach, his lips would need to be purified by the burning charcoal held by an angel, the people of God would need to be purified before they could return to their land. But, in his justice, after their period of suffering and purification away from the chosen land, God made the move to return them, to bring them home.

Now, in this context, letâ€s return to the first reading:

Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not! Here is your God,

he comes with vindication; with divine recompense

he comes to save you.
And what does this recompense finally involve?

Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.

This is the power of God: that out from the driest, most desolate places; out of the burning sands and most wasteful deserts…streams will run, springs will flow.

Life! In the midst of death. Abundance! In the midst of depravity. Freedom! In the midst of exile and sin.

How many people perceive you and I – the Christians of 2021 – to be agents of this kind of God?

A better question:

How many of us – you and I – have let ourselves be brought to Jesus, really brought to him? He is God, who brings us back to himself. He is the new Isaiah who proclaims to us the great news of redemption. He is a human man, alive in history, who, like King Cyrus, has made it possible for us, his people, to return to our homeland.

He is the one who comes to us in the dryness and waste of our sin, in the difficulty of our present moment, in the discomfort of the protocols, in the uncertainty of the circumstances of our lives; in the depravity of death and in the fear of our own perceived distance from the Father, Jesus is the one who receives us into his house, into his land, and speaks with such power: EPHPHATHA: BE OPENED!

And as the man in the Gospel began to hear clearly and speak plainly, so too we shall be broken open, and we believe that from the wound of our sins – whether that wound is open and gaping or is rough and scarred – we believe that from this wound will flow streams of living water.

When people meet us, do they know about this God? Do they perceive this work within us? This movement from exile to freedom? From death to life? From a dry, crusty heart to one from which a spring is flowing?

Do they perceive the hope of the Gospel in you? Do they perceive the truth that divine recompense in its fullness is not judgment or scorn or wrath, but the gift of new, abundant life?

We are living the midst of a period of great confusion and strife. Last evening when I came out of the confessional, I was almost in tears. I am so moved – with both pride and also empathy – by the weight that so many of you are carrying around. To you, in the midst of your trials and difficulties, I proclaim Jesus Christ.

When Iâ€m with him, Iâ€m not afraid anymore. When Iâ€m with him, I believe in hope. When Iâ€m with him, I believe that real, transformative love exists and exists as something offered even to me. When Iâ€m with him, I believe that my exile is over, and that I am home.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life … we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us” (1 Jn 1:1, 3).

Jesus is the only Gospel: I have nothing further to say or any other witness to bear. (Evangelium Vitae 80)

In the time of silence following communion, I want you to perceive that host to be like a wrecking ball within you; Jesus, the living God, is living inside of you and coming straight for the places of exile. Like a mighty champion, he comes in his power to break you open, finally, not so that you will suffer or be embarrassed or prolong your misery, but so that you will be free from everything that holds you captive and leads you astray.

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!

Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.