August 21, 2022, Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
The parallel theme between the First Reading and the Gospel for this Sunday is really quite interesting. It is one which offers the hope of salvation to all people, without discrimination from all around the world.
We hear it first from the book of Isaiah (Isa. 66:18-21). This prophetic work holds several decades of the history of the nation of Israel and is divided into three parts. The first portion (Isa. 1-39) comes from the pre-exilic period and deals with warnings against the king and his people for their sins against the Lord. They have rebelled against and forsaken the Lord (Isa. 1:2; 4), offered empty sacrifices and celebrated wicked feasts (Isa. 1:13), treated the oppressed, the orphan and the widow, with injustice (Isa. 1:17), and prostituted themselves with foreign idols (Isa. 2:8). For their contempt before God, these people will be sent into exile by their enemies.
The second portion of the book, known as Deutero-Isaiah (Isa. 40-55), contains an emphasis on a time when the Babylonians have become a powerful empire. However, Babylon, previously used as God’s instrument of judgement against Israel, is overtaken by a new world power under the leadership of Cyrus the Persian. The message now becomes one of hope. It marks the end of punishment and promises the return of the exiles to their homeland.
The third portion of the book, known as Trito-Isaiah (Isa. 56-66), contains the verses that we read today. It emphasizes the blessings of restoration and salvation which come for Israel at the dawning of a new age (Isa. 60:1-3). It also claims that all of the nations will flock to the beckoning light of the power of the Lord, in peace, bearing gifts and offering veneration to the people of Israel. God confirms this promise: “I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will send survivors to the distant coastlands which have never heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.” (Isa. 66:18, 19b)
In this passage, God is finally bringing salvation to the entire world through his chosen people, the nation of Israel. However, the world remains tainted and the unjust and the disobedient become cursed and suffer the loss of the Lord’s blessing. Hope for a messiah, a savior for the blessed, becomes the dominant theme. And several hundred years later, Jesus enters the scene.
In today’s Gospel from Luke (Lk. 13:22-30), we encounter Jesus preaching as he travels to Jerusalem. Someone from the crowd asks him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” (Lk. 13:23). And as so often happens, Jesus answers with a parable, in this case it is about a narrow gate. It describes a master who has locked the outer door and refuses to open the door for people that he claims not to know. Even though they argue with him saying that they have dined with him and listened to him teach in the streets, he still refuses. He tells them that the gate is narrow and will only be available to those who are strong enough to enter. These verses represent the banquet which is the kingdom of God, and Jesus who is the master.
Even though these people have been in the company of Jesus he contends that they are still unworthy to enter the kingdom. It is a prophetic warning of repentance for “evildoers” who will observe their ancestors – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets of the Lord – in the kingdom of God but who will be cast out to suffering, with the wailing and grinding of teeth.
Notice, however, who Jesus will choose to enter the kingdom. They are not just Jews. Rather they are Gentiles from around the world, from “the east and the west and from the north and the south and they will recline at table in the kingdom of God” (Lk. 13:29). These who are least expected will be a part of the remnant who are included. They have been enlightened by the disciples sent by Jesus and they are aware of the paschal mystery and have come to believe in Christ as the messiah. While those who thought themselves holy and chosen are not welcome to enter.
This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah where God says he will send representatives to “distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain.” (Isa. 66:18b-19a).
The fulfillment of this prophecy still stands valid today. St. Paul tells us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, for Jew first, and then Greek” (Rom. 1:16). All who believe in the saving mystery of Jesus will be welcomed into the kingdom. “Jews first” because they were the original chosen people of God, and then Gentiles, that is all non-Jews who have come to believe and practice the tenets of Christianity. All of us hearing this message today may be counted among the saved if we follow the mandate of Jesus reflected in our Responsorial Psalm, “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News” (Mk. 16:15). Then as missionaries of His love we bring it back through the narrow gate of Christ as the promise of our salvation.
