This Gospel from Luke’s memory, it seems to me, is one of those times when Jesus takes a circular route to answer a question from the crowd. Instead of a direct answer Jesus seems to be avoiding the question. Did He consider it of no merit? Or was He giving us time to let the answer we’d heard before rise to the surface? If we place the question in the Gospel side by side with the words of Isaiah in the first reading, we’ll realize how generous divine hospitality is. The question from the crowd was, “Will only a few people be saved?” We find reassurance spoke through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. “I come to gather peoples of every language, from the distant coastlands, from all nations, brothers and sisters.”
Jesus gets to the crux of the question by telling the hearers not to be headcounters but to be personally concerned how to be saved. Enter through the narrow gate, be strong when you knock, make your presence known at the Lord’s banquet table! Make friends with the prophets, associate with people from every corner of the world and don’t be concerned with where you are in line. This past week we heard Jesus say that the first shall be last; the last will get the same reward as those who signed on to Jesus’ work crew early in the day. So, you don’t need to call DIBS on first place in line. The important thing is to be IN the line.
Saying “be in the line” brings a flashback of how expressions can have different meanings especially to young children and language learners. At the beginning of a new term, when I would direct the youngsters “line up to go to outside” I could find those new to the group in the middle of the classroom quietly waiting on the taped story-time circle on the floor, or near the clothesline in the housekeeping area looking puzzled at the children gathered near the exit door. Lesson: be sure you know which is the line where Jesus will be looking for you to join.
Tomorrow’s reading from Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews offers us some tips to prepare for the heaven’s entry door: do not lose heart, joyfully accept discipline, strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees; straighten your crooked paths, be careful not to turn your ankle or trip up anyone else. Jesus expands the picture. He says people will come from the east and the west, the north and the south. This connects with our prayer intention for this week: God’s blessing on the new school year at Saint Leo University. We pray for the students coming from all over the U.S. and from several foreign countries; for the administration, the faculty and staff; the board, donors and patrons.
Jesus’ answer to the crowd lets us know that the “door of opportunity” will not remain open indefinitely. Remember Jesus said: “When once the head of the house has risen and shut the door, you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us’. When the door is closed, it is closed and will not be reopened for persons whose only claim is a false one of entitlement that Jesus once visited their temple, their church or chapel, their town or village or preached in their streets or that they once saw Jesus in a crowd. Remember the 10 virgins? Five missed the boat due to a lack of future planning, having a Plan B and foreseeing consequences.
The gift of the Open Door is pure gift. Have we had sincere encounters that He will he answer us, ‘I do not know where you come from.” It’s best not to delay your planning to be among the chosen. Don’t put off to tomorrow what can be done today. Lectio and personal prayer; some form of fasting whether from food, or technology or juicy gossip is a daily opportunity. And, look again at what Isaiah instructs us to do: “Bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord.” In the words of the Responsorial Psalm: “Steadfast is the kindness of the Lord toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.”
~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
First Reading Isaiah 66:18-21
Second Reading Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Gospel Reading Luke 13:22-30
