21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 21, 2022
/What is “the Kingdom” and what does it take to get a place in the choir?
Luke 13:22–30
He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Music Meditations
- The Summons—Robert Kolchis
- A Place in the Choir—Celtic Thunder
- You Are Mine—Walkers to Heaven
Opening Prayer
Lord, I ask for inner freedom and the humility to understand that what counts is not my past successes or failures, not what religious groups I belong to. Help me to see that my destiny depends on the outcome of my encounter with you. Jesus, where, exactly, do I encounter, you? [pause to reflect on your answer]. Help me to know you, my Lord, and to understand what “knowing you” really entails.
Companions for the Journey
From “First Impressions 2022”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
I wonder if the person who asked Jesus, “Lord will only a few people be saved?” was asking out of curiosity, or because he or she was feeling cozy and part of the “in crowd.” Did this person feel safe and secure thinking that what Jesus was saying about being rejected at the end time could not possibly apply to him, or her? Was the “someone” who asked the question one of those traveling with Jesus towards Jerusalem? Did the questioner think that membership in Jesus’ band automatically brought dividends with no further self-investment; just being with the Teacher would be enough?
The opening of today’s gospel narrative should cause us in the pews and at the altar to squirm. Are we just going along with the group, we who are members of the community and lead respectable lives? We follow the rules and fulfill our obligations. Is that enough? Maybe for us and those who admire us – but not for Jesus. Instead of playing the numbers game, answering the question about how many are to be saved, Jesus deflects the questioner’s inquiry. Forget about how many will be on the final guest list for the banquet, look instead to your own quality of discipleship. Jesus says we are to “strive” to enter through the narrow gate. From the Greek for “strive,” (“Agonizesthe”) we get our word “agony.” This gives us a sense of what effort will be involved to get through that gate. The word could be applied to a strenuous athletic effort, the energy, pain and dedication athletes put into competition like the Olympics. Years of herculean efforts have brought them to the games, it has been a “narrow gate” indeed for them. Jesus calls his disciples to such efforts on behalf of the reign of God. He knows the goal is worth the effort.
If we are not careful, this passage can be a trap for us listeners. In calling us to “strive,” to work hard to enter “the narrow gate,” to be “strong enough,” the impression we might get is that if we put enough effort into it, we can enter the reign of God. All it requires is a lot of sweat, dedication and perseverance. But remember that grace lies beneath the surface of the biblical stories. Entrance through the narrow gate begins with an invitation from God. Having heard and accepted the invitation, we are in the realm of God’s grace, the constant source, energy and inspiration for our “striving.”
Today’s Isaiah and gospel readings show how inclusive is God’s saving outreach. We may have our notions of who is “in” and who is “out”; who is worthy and who is not – but the gospel cautions us not to jump to conclusions and not to be smug. What kind of logic and world are we being invited into when the first are last and the last first? That’s certainly not the world to which we are accustomed. Of course not, it is an entirely new world – a new way of reasoning, judging, rewarding and giving entrance. In fact, the gospel suggests we put our math and standards in storage and let God be God when it comes to who comes through the admissions gate. We should tend, Jesus reminds us, to our own concern. We have heard the gospel, accepted Jesus’ promises, known the difference grace can make in our lives – and now we can strive to reach the finish line – thanks to God!
To help make the point that we do not earn entrance to the reign of God on our own, today’s account begins with a reminder of place. Remember Jesus is on the road, making his way to Jerusalem. A major section of Luke’s gospel (9:51-18:14) takes place on the road to the holy city. So, the reading begins with a reminder that the “striving,” the difficult task and struggle needed to accomplish our salvation, will be first achieved through Jesus’ dying and rising in Jerusalem. Jesus will faithfully fulfill his mission to preach and practice the good news, even though it will mean his death. In today’s passage, as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, Luke would not have us forget that the source of our new lives is Jesus; through him we are given the desire and commitment to “strive” to get through the narrow gate.
In Jesus’s society, when people ate together they became part of the inner circle, they were like family members. Those who are locked out of the house, in his brief parable, are claiming prerogatives from Jesus because, they say, they belong to his “company,” they ate and drank with him and his disciples. Based on their standards of acceptance, they are right, they belong with Jesus. But Jesus says more is required of those who sit at table with him. For those of us with him at this Eucharistic table, more is required than membership in our church, parish and community. Salvation is not guaranteed to a privileged group who claim rights based on membership. Those requesting admission at the door proffer still more credentials to get in. They claim Jesus taught in their streets and sat among them in their synagogues. Jesus’ response is abrupt. More than hearing him is necessary; more than being able to recite correct doctrine is needed to make us people who bear his name – Christian. We have to put his words into practice. But how inclusive should that practice be? As wide as the world in which we live. We must be open to all, “from the east and the west, and from the north and the south,” for those who are good, no matter what their background, will be invited to dine with Jesus and the great ancestors of faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Such a vision must have startled Jesus’ hearers who thought they would be among the privileged because they could claim Jesus as “one of ours.”
Why is this gate “narrow?” Gustavo Gutierrez, OP, puts it this way:
The narrow door is clearly restrictive not in reference to people but in terms of the “right” to be saved. Salvation does not come from a mere physical closeness to Jesus (vv. 26-27). It is not enough to have eaten and to have drunk with him or to have listened to him in the public squares. It is not the consequence of belonging to a specific people either, in this case the Jewish people (v. 28). The text does not say it, but in fidelity to the spirit of Jesus’ answer we could add that salvation is not limited to one race or one culture. Salvation comes when we accept Jesus and start to follow him. This is the narrow door, the only door to life and it is a demanding entrance.
We may be too restrictive in our estimation of where God is present and acting. We tend to look only within our church walls to see God’s special ones; we tend to rank one denomination over another as “truer” than others; we tend to make too sharply-defined distinctions between the useful and useless; we tend to jump to conclusions about people’s worth from how they look and speak, the jobs they have or don’t have, the income they make, their place of origin. Well, the last shall be first and the first last and “they” will come from all the points of the compass to sit at the table. So, we had better put on our biblical lens, look again and, if we have not already done so, start “striving” to live as people with another vision of reality.
When we enter the final and everlasting banquet, Jesus tells us, we will be surprised at those enjoying the feast. God has a pretty broad vision and we will be surprised at those who “made it” through the narrow gate. If we accept this vision of the end time then we should start preparing or it now. We need a change of glasses; we need to look at our world through the biblical lens and act accordingly.
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
Strive to enter through the narrow gate.
Living the Good News
What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?
Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:
Reflection Questions
Meditations
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations* will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Why is it not enough to “eat and drink in Jesus’ company”? Ronald Rolheiser, quoting pastor James Forbes, said: ”nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor”. What does my resume look like in reference to my attention to or the help I have rendered to the poor, the sick, to migrants, to those suffering from the effects of war and famine? Father George Bobowski prints the following lines on the envelopes that he distributes for fundraising for education of seminarians in Russia: “You cannot buy Heaven with what you have. You can buy Heaven with what you give”. What do I give, and to whom?
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
The way to eternal happiness, the way to Kingdom Jesus has envisioned, is through a narrow gate. It is not an impossibly small entry, but it is difficult. If you have ever loaded yourself up with as much carry-on luggage as they will let you take on the plane, and then tried to squeeze yourself, your pillow, blanket, rolling bag and a huge carry-on down the narrow aisle, bumping elbows and murmuring “sorry” then finding out the overhead by your seat is full, you know what impedes our entrance through a narrow gate. It is the baggage we carry. That baggage could be money, position, complacency, success, power, comfort, etc. What am I carrying that makes me too wide to fit through that narrow door? Going through that narrow door seems to require both commitment and discipline, not just showing up and demanding to be let in. What must I commit to in order to enter the kingdom, and what discipline do I need to impose on my own behavior? What, as the rich young man asked Jesus, must I do to earn eternal life?
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
The Irish Jesuits, in Sacred Space, have a lovely meditation for this gospel passage:
I spend some time imagining the scene, with myself as the one who asks the question of Jesus. What is Jesus like as he speaks the reply to me? How do his words sound to me? Surprising? Threatening? Liberating? Jesus does not give a direct answer to the question: Will only a few be saved? St Paul insisted: God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. But there is a challenging image here: a narrow door, like a turnstile in a stadium. We cannot take salvation for granted. I need to keep my eye on that turnstile, keep pushing towards it. Salvation is a gift from God and not the right of any particular group. The door may be narrow but the crowd in God’s kingdom will be great. The entrance-key to God’s space and kingdom is to live in the spirit of the gospel and in the forgiveness of God for ways in which we have not lived in his way. In prayer we can offer ourselves to God, and to give to him the best desires and deeds of our lives, leaving judgement to him.
Literary Reflection:
Mary Oliver looks at living in the Kingdom as bringing awareness and gratitude to her everyday life, not by being famous or wealthy, or even overly pious:
“Messenger”
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
Closing Prayer
Lord, you are not saying that many will be lost in the end. But you are warning us to deepen our relationship with you and to accept others. Let me play my small but essential part to ensure that all of us may be gathered safely into your kingdom.
