(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
I found out today that I eat a poultice every morning for breakfast, except that I use oatmeal rather than figs. Poultice is a porridge. For us, the poultice is a medicinal glob put on a boil or an infection under the skin. The object is to use the pull of the poultice to draw the inflammation out of the body. It worked for Hezekiah and he lived another fifteen years.
I ought to tell you something else. If you read the passage, you probably noticed that the last lines of the narrative were misplaced from their position in the Bible. This is because the verses 7-8 logically come where they are in the Lectionary. In a parallel passage in 2 Kings, the same verses are in the Bible the way these are in the Lectionary. Our modern study of the Scriptures has taught us many things about the composition of the books of the Bible. Our reading today, in the ordering of its verses, is one of the fruits of this study.
I also asked you to read some verses that I included within parentheses. These verses make up the responsorial psalm for today. It is also one of the Old Testament canticles we use in the daily prayer of the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours.
Today I have given you a recipe, a very brief introduction to modern Scripture study, and a note about the daily prayer of the Church. What more can I give you?
Hezekiah prays and the prophet has to change his message. Not only does God grant the king fifteen more years of life, but he also promises his protection and rescue.
This promise, however, holds not only for Hezekiah. It also works for us. Since God has marked us out for healing, through the resurrection of God’s Son, we also have God’s promise of protection and rescue. The God who can make the sundial move back ten hours can also take away our sins and fill us with God’s own grace. Like Hezekiah, it is time for us to get out of bed and on with the life to which God has called us.