Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1: Is 66:18-21
Reading 2: Heb 12:5-7, 11-13
Gospel: Lk 13:22-30
Our first reading this week comes from the last chapter of the Book of Isaiah and very probably cannot be attributed to Isaiah himself. The prophet Isaiah is generally dated between 742 and 700 B.C., but the Book of Isaiah covers over 200 years of time and the last 10 chapters or so are believed to have been written after the Babylonian exile which would date these chapters to about 500 B.C. It is generally believed that only the first 39 chapters come from the time of Isaiah himself, before the exile, while chapters 40 to 55 were most likely written during the exile (587 to 538 B.C.) and the final chapters from the period of reconstruction after the exile. Therefore, much of the book is written by others and attributed to Isaiah as a way to give authority to the writings. That practice is called “pseudepigraphy;” the ascription of false names of authors to works. It was a fairly common practice in ancient times and was considered a compliment to the one named; in this case, Isaiah.
One of the interesting things about the prophets of the Old Testament is that when a prophecy was uttered or written it may have meant one thing to the prophet and those who heard him at the time, but when we get to the time of Christ and look back at the prophecy, we may see that it meant something else to God who inspired the prophet. We have an example of that double-meaning in our first reading. The author / prophet said that God will “gather nations of every language” and bring them to “Jerusalem, my holy mountain.” When you see the word “Nations” in the Old Testament, that word refers exclusively to the Gentiles. The particularly interesting point here is that the prophet is saying God will gather Gentiles to Jerusalem to see his glory, and from those Gentiles he will send out “fugitives” (i.e., representatives) to bring “all your brothers and sisters (fellow Jews) from all the nations.” So, the immediate meaning of this prophecy is that God will gather all the exiles – both those exiled by the Assyrian conquest of Israel and those exiled by the Babylonian conquest of Judah – and bring them back to Jerusalem and that Gentiles will be involved in gathering the exiles. And some of those gathered Jewish exiles will be chosen as Priests / Levites (apostles) and be sent to distant coastlands to “proclaim my glory among the nations.” There seems to be a hidden message in this prophecy which is particularly interesting, and that hidden message is that the Jews, who were exiled from their land because of their infidelity to God, will be brought back to God; but that Gentiles will somehow be involved in their return. Is this the hidden message in this prophecy; that the church, when it comes into existence and will be almost exclusively Gentile in nature, will be instrumental in bringing the Jews to faith? Notice also that the prophet said that God would “set a sign among them.” Does that “sign” refer to Jesus?
To the ancient Israelites Jerusalem / Mt. Zion represented the center of the universe; the place where heaven touched earth because God resided with man in his holy temple on Mt. Zion. But in Christian times, we recognize that, in the scriptures, Jerusalem / Mt. Zion symbolically represent the church in much of the ancient prophecy. In the Book of Revelation, we have a reference to the “New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, spotlessly white as a bride prepared for her husband,” and that New Jerusalem is a reference to the church where God intends to gather all people, not just the exiled Jews. And from those Jews gathered from among the nations, God will choose some as Priests (i.e., apostles) and send them to distant coastlands to proclaim God’s glory among the nations. So, the meaning of this reading for us is that God intends that his glory shall be proclaimed throughout the world by those chosen for the task. That certainly includes the Jewish apostles and the Gentile bishops that followed them, but it also includes those of us who will accept the task; those who say: “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets;” those of us who have accepted our Christian faith. Simply going to church does not guarantee acceptance of the task; living it out through charity is that which we are called to.
Our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds the readers that they are to be in a covenantal relationship with God through the “exhortation” they received from Moses and the Law he gave them; but the people have forgotten that exhortation. Consequently, they were disciplined by God and that discipline took the form of exile from their land. However, they are not to disdain that discipline because God is a loving father; and what father does not discipline his son? This is a call to discipleship, and it applies, not only to the ancient Jews, but to us as well. As long as we abide by that covenantal relationship we will be among those gathered from every nation and every language. But discipleship is not easy. Devotion to Christ and our relationship with him has always involved persecution. The New Testament tells us of the persecution suffered by the early disciples and, to one degree or another, that persecution of Christians, particularly Catholics, continues today.
In our gospel passage Jesus is asked: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” The gospel doesn’t tell us who asked the question, but we can assume it was someone from the many disciples who followed him because Jesus was teaching them at the time. Is that question an assumption that only those who ate and drank with Jesus will realize salvation? Is it an assumption that salvation has been earned by them? Is that an assumption that only those who go to church regularly will be saved? Jesus didn’t answer the question directly but through a series of parables he cautions the disciples that salvation is not to be taken for granted. Some will try to take the easy way by calling themselves Christians but not living according to their covenantal relationship. Only those who accept the rigors of discipleship through self-denial and charity by entering through the “narrow gate” will achieve salvation. On judgment day we can’t simply stand outside saying: “Lord, open the door for us.” Salvation is not a first-come-first-served proposition.
So, what is the connection between Isaiah 66 and our gospel reading this week? God calls us all to discipleship, but Jesus warns us that discipleship is not easy. Some will not be strong enough to enter through the narrow gate and follow Jesus. And after hearing him “teach in our streets” and “eating and drinking in his company” at his table and therefore know what we are called to but fail to follow that calling, we will hear Jesus say to us: “Depart from me all you evildoers.”
As long as we live and breathe there is time for repentance and a change in the priorities of our lives and that is what Jesus is referring to when he said: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Those who were first but will be last are the Jews to whom the gospel was first proclaimed; but that gospel was rejected by the majority. But they are God’s chosen, covenanted people; and God will not break his covenant with them. Though they were the first to be called to the gospel, they will be the last to accept it. Read the Letter to the Romans, chapter 11, verse 25 and following for St. Paul’s explanation of how the Jews will come to faith and how the Gentiles will be instrumental in Jewish conversion. Therefore, the first will be the last.
And who are the last that will be the first? That’s us, the Gentiles who accepted the gospel because the Jews rejected it. We were the last to hear the proclamation, but the first to accept it. I would think that the golden thread this week is discipleship, and the dire warning of the consequences of being called and rejecting the call.
Reference: Artwork ©LPi
