21st Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle C-2016
FIRST READING Isaiah 66:18-21
Thus says the LORD: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the 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, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.
SECOND READING Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Brothers and sisters, you have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.
GOSPEL Luke 13:22-30
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.”
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
All discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it—this quote from the second reading today expresses the teaching of the readings for this 21st Sunday of the year.
Most of us prefer the peaceful fruit of righteousness but without the pain of discipline. Yet the Scriptures are so clear: we must learn discipline in order to love God and others. It is only discipline learned in trying to be faithful to God that will help us embrace the pains that ultimately lead to joy.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Isaiah. This prophet has many passages that express tenderness and love and joy and delight. The passage today is not that way! Today’s passage is not difficult and not a sour teaching. When we hear these words, we can feel some consolation: “I know their works and their thoughts…; they shall come and see my glory.
This passage implies, however, that God chooses us. We like to think that we choose God. Of course, both aspects are true, but even in our choosing of God, it is God who acts and chooses us. We humans almost always think of ourselves as autonomous and able to choose whatever we want. That is indeed a part of our freedom. Yet if we choose against God, we choose slavery and not freedom.
The Letter to the Hebrews from which our second reading today is taken, tells us that we have forgotten God or at least we have forgotten the discipline needed to seek God. Often we want to feel encouraged by positive words, but the early Christian writers were not afraid also to tell the truth: we have become unfaithful. Many of us experience that from time to time. We become aware of our brokenness and our inability to seek God just with our own will power. The challenge again is to keep on trying, trusting that God will eventually help us.
Luke’s Gospel today reminds us: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” There is always hope as we keep on striving. It is when we stop striving and stop seeking God that the way forward begins to block us.
So we can think of the message of this Sunday as encouragement to keep on striving to be faithful to God, even when we can see and know our own failures. It is as if God Himself is telling us: Do not give up hope! Trust in the Lord forever.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip