Day by day this blog provides a reflection on the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Isaiah 29:17-24

17 Is it not true that in a very short time the Lebanon will become productive ground, so productive you might take it for a forest?

18 That day the deaf will hear the words of the book and, delivered from shadow and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The lowly will find ever more joy in the Lord and the poorest of people will delight in the Holy One of Israel;

20 for the tyrant will be no more, the scoffer has vanished and all those on the look-out for evil have been destroyed:

21 those who incriminate others by their words, those who lay traps for the arbitrator at the gate and groundlessly deprive the upright of fair judgement.

22 That is why the Lord God of the House of Jacob, Abraham’s redeemer, says this, ‘No longer shall Jacob be disappointed, no more shall his face grow pale,

23 for when he sees his children, my creatures, home again with him, he will acknowledge my name as holy, he will acknowledge the Holy One of Jacob to be holy and will hold the God of Israel in awe.

24 Erring spirits will learn to understand and murmurers accept instruction.’

 Gospel, Matthew 9:27-31

27 As Jesus went on his way two blind men followed him shouting, ‘Take pity on us, son of David.’ 28 And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up to him and he said to them, ‘Do you believe I can do this?’ They said, ‘Lord, we do.’

29 Then he touched their eyes saying, ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you.’

30 And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, ‘Take care that no one learns about this.’ 31 But when they had gone away, they talked about him all over the countryside. 

The prophet says that those who will know the presence of God are the deaf, the blind, the oppressed and the poor. The rich and powerful will have been swept away. When the children of Jacob are gathered home they will be filled with praise for the God who has brought this about.

 Matthew understood Jesus’ actions amongst the poor, the sick and the blind, as fulfilments of prophecy. Although Jesus was acting in a world ruled by the rich and the powerful, the deaf and the blind were healed. Prophecies that envisaged the end of evil, find fulfilment, according to the gospels, in the world as it is. Jesus’ view was more radical than the vision of the prophet: God’s transforming goodness did not have to wait until the last days. It could be done in the here and now. The human qualities that correspond to God’s goodness are need and trust. Jesus emphasises the need for trust, as if he were saying, “Do you really trust that in the midst of the old creation, the deeds of the new creation can already be done?” The needy person is encouraged to be passionate about the possibility of the need being met. Brian Wren says it in one of his great hymns: “live tomorrow’s life today!”