Sunday Reflections
1. Jesus 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 gate, 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” (Lk 13:22-30). Taken from today’s gospel for Sunday week 21.
2. Typical Jewish religious thought of ancient times teaches that Jews are the people of God and that others are excluded from this their. The heathens cannot have any part in God. The last chapter of Isaiah which we read in today’s first reading clearly discredits this thought. Isaiah maintains that God is the God of all the earth. Whoever accepts to live by his covenant becomes his child and he, his God. Isaiah teaches that God will appoint priests and Levites from among non-jewish people who will believe in him. This goes to show that God has no favorite.
3. The gospel begins with a question from a Jew to Jesus asking if only a few people will be saved. The question was probably asked to confirm the conviction that only Jews would be saved. The question could be reframed as: Apart from the Jews how many people from other race will be saved? Jesus became personal in his response. He urged the man and people like him to be concerned about their own personal salvation and not with figures about people who will be saved from other races. Some people divert attention from themselves to others. Jesus insisted on personal situation and not general one. In responding to the question he used the pronoun “you” about eleven times to underscore the importance of personal effort. He urged his Jewish listeners to strive to enter by the narrow gate. The narrow has a limited time for being open. A time will come when the master will close the gate and block those who had not entered. He emphasized the fact that heaven cannot be made without conscious effort. Nobody will make heaven without having willed it and worked for it. That is why many may like to enter but will not be strong enough to make it. In this way Jesus discredited the assumption that belonging to a group is enough to merit heaven for anyone.
4. Jesus goes further to confirm that physical closeness to Jesus without a corresponding life of holiness will still not take one to eternal life. When the master closes the door some people will affirm their belonging to Christ by indicating that they ate with him and that he preached in their street. Jesus’ response was that he has nothing to do with wicked people. Here it became clear that participation in the sacred banquet like the Holy Communion and in liturgical celebration of the word of God does not qualify one to enter heaven. One must put in practice the teaching he or she received about holiness without which no one can see God.
5. Finally Jesus teaches that heaven will be filled with people from East and West, North and South. The four cardinal points is a way of signifying that non-jewish people will also be saved. The salvation will depend not on their origin but in their having lived their lives in righteousness. Salvation has less to do with one’s origin, one’s religion at birth and one’s religious rituals. It has more to do with imitating Christ, following him in joy and in pains, in success and failures. It has to do with understanding that those whom God loves he can also discipline with suffering to make them learn more because he who suffers more learns more. ( Today’s second reading Heb 12:5-7, 11-13) The fact remains that God has a place for all his son’s and daughters in his kingdom but only those willing to stay there will effectively occupy their place. This is the answer to the question to Jesus. Yes, more than a few will be saved.
6. The central teaching of today’s gospel is that anyone can become God’s favourite independently of his or her origin. The readings are an invitation to you to make yourself God’s favorite by accepting him as the Lord and Master of your life. You know how loyal you are to your earthly masters. Give Christ the same loyalty. You may have been a christian for many years now but have you been loyal to Christ? You may have been receiving the Holy Communion for years, how many of them have you received in a state, not being conscious of any mortal sin? You may have been hearing and preaching the Word of God for years, how many of them have you been obedient to? If you truly desire to spend your eternity with God you must consolidate your apparent good life to conform with reality. Be whom you pretend to be before God and men. Be real and authentic. ©Vita, 21/08/22.
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