The Good News is for All the World: Reflections on the Readings for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Isaiah 66:18-21
Psalm 117
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30

Have you encountered Jesus? More importantly does He “know” you? You may be involved in all sorts of activities in your Church but without that personal relationship with Him, you may still find yourself out where there is “wailing and grinding of teeth.” If you think you might be in this category, get to confession and adoration and build up your personal relationship with Him.

Isaiah has encouraging words for the world. “I come to gather nations of every language” (includes the Gentiles). What’s more God adds “they shall come and see my glory.” What follows is reminiscent of Jesus’ words of commission to the disciples at His Ascension, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) God is saying He will send people to places where He is unknown and “they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.” Like the apostles, we have the same mission. We are the fugitives who must proclaim God’s glory. It is our job to bring others into the Church. How will they know the Joy of Jesus’ message if we don’t tell them? Jesus gives this same message bringing in the whole world in today’s gospel reading, “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.”

The responsorial psalm picks up with its refrain, “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.” Part of the message, besides God’s glory, is God’s steadfastness and kindness towards us, His people. We are now the “Chosen People,” the sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, becoming “as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.” (Genesis 22:17) And, for all of the modernists we see today, who are succumbing to the ever-changing world, God is ever constant, “the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.” As He says in Malachi, “For I, the LORD, do not change.” (Malachi 3:6)

While Isaiah talked of the people of all the nations being our brothers and sisters, the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that we, the family of man, (in addition to being descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are children of God. As our “parent” (recall Jesus told us to pray to “Our Father”), He reproves us as any good parent would do (this is in line with our responsibility to correct our neighbors who are falling into error - see my post on this site, “Admonish the Sinner”).

This discipline often takes the form of trials and challenges for which we should actually be thankful. St. Peter said, “In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” And St. James reminds us that persevering through trial has its reward: “Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

In the gospel reading we get several important lessons. First, Jesus is asked by “someone” if only a few people will be saved. Jesus does not answer the question directly but tells him, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” In Matthew’s gospel we get more insight into this answer. “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Later the apostles ask who then can be saved? (Matthew 19:26) Jesus answers “What is impossible for human beings is possible for God.” Thus Jesus emphasizes the necessity of a personal relationship with God and doing His will because we cannot be saved on our own, we need His help.

Also in this gospel reading, we get a curious statement by Jesus concerning people who declared all of the things they had done in His name and yet when they come to the final judgment Jesus declares, “I do not know where you are from.” First, this implies that the personal relationship with the Lord, so necessary for salvation, is missing. Yes, you did all of those things. You belonged to several ministries, you led various groups (perhaps even Bible studies), you volunteered at the food pantry and other service groups, and yet you may still be denied entry into heaven. How can that be?

Everything we do is an act of the will, a choice. Not only the choice itself but the reason for the choice is important. Jesus excoriated the scribes and the pharisees repeatedly because their actions, although in line with the Law, for most of them, were meant to exalt themselves in the view of the people; to increase theirpower and influence. It reminds me of a line from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He had just finished fighting with one of the “members of the Order of the Cruciform Sword” who asked Jones why he was seeking the Cup of Christ. Then came the point of the question, “is it for your glory or His?”

One of the most misunderstood and overlooked matter of faith today is pride versus humility. Jesus told His followers, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) He spoke of the need to have the humility of a child. (Matthew 18:4)

God gave us many talents, not all in the same measure. But how we use them is important. God wants us to recognize the talents HE GAVE US, and use them to HIS glory, not ours.

In C.S. Lewis’s, The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, the experienced demon, frequently points to pride as a means for capturing souls for the devil. He even tells his protégé how to twist some good deed into a matter of pride, so as to devalue the good that was done. He urges his protégé to concentrate on matters of shame, pride, vanity, having the “right kind of friends,” in other words keep us immersed in the world. Screwtape explains, “The enemy [God] wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be had it been done by another.”

It all comes down to intent. Jesus’ last statement in this reading is very important, “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." This is another part of His consistent message to persevere to the end. Conversion continues through our entire lives. “Today’s success and righteousness is no guarantee of tomorrow’s faithfulness.” (Bill Newton, Endure)

Doing the will of God (i.e., bending our will to His) is all important. At one point Screwtape laments, “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s [God’s] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”