On the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time the first reading and the Gospel tell us that the Kingdom is for all those who are willing to commit themselves to Jesus and that all are called to sing the praises of God. The second reading reminds us that trials and difficulties are a part of life and we must embrace them as part of the human condition and praise God in the midst of them for His transforming power will bring us through them to the final and complete joy on the other side. Who or what helps me to be strong on the way to the narrow gate? How do I help others to be strong?

First Reading: Isaiah 66: 18-21

18 [Thus says the Lord] I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. 19 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. 20 They shall bring all your brethren 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. 21 Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.

NOTES on First Reading:

* 66:18-21 God is depicted as summoning the neighboring nations to Zion and picking from among them those whom He will send to some far distant lands in order to proclaim His glory. “All your brethren” refers to the Jews in exile.

* 66:18 Glory invokes the memory of 40:5 where it is an object of pilgrimage in the Temple.

* 66:19 The “sign” is usually taken to center around the survival of Jerusalem to become an object of pilgrimage and the destination for a new exodus for both Diaspora Jews and for Gentiles. The place names provide an image of a triumphal procession from all directions.

* 66:20 This is a radical statement that seems to welcome Gentiles bringing their own sacrifices to the Temple of God.

* 66:21 While Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah are restricting the priesthood to the Zadokites and dispossessing other Levites of important cultic functions (Ezek 40:46; 44:10-16) Trito-Isaiah seems to suggest extending the priesthood to the Gentiles. This is sometimes seen as a clearer vision of God’s future workings in Christ’s disciples.

Second Reading: Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13

5 You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; 6 for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” 7 Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?

11 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.

12 So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. 13 Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

NOTES on Second Reading:

* 12:5 We as Christians should regard our own sufferings as the affectionate correction of the Lord, who loves us as a father loves his children. See Proverbs 3:11-12.

* 12:7 The author sees trials and sufferings as a learning exercise through which we must pass in order to be properly trained children of our God and Father. The Greek word used for discipline or trials has several meanings, among which are: the whole training and education of children whatever in adults cultivates the soul, especially by correcting mistakes and curbing passions. instruction which aims at increasing virtue chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment)

* 12:11-13 The writer asks his readers to look at the fruits of their passage through their trials and troubles. The troubles through which we pass act to strengthen and teach us as did the disciplinary actions of our parents. He asks us to see our trials as discipline from God intended to instruct and purify our hearts.

Gospel Reading: Luke 13: 22-30

22 He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 25 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.’ 26 And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ 27 Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 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. 29 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. 30 For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

NOTES on Gospel Reading:

* 13:22-30 These sayings of Jesus immediately follow the parables of the kingdom (Luke 13:18-21). They further develop the concepts of the effort that is required in living out the gospel and a sense of urgency because the door will not remain open indefinitely.

* 13:24 Not all who wish to enter will be willing to live the gospel.

*13:25-27 Casual eating and drinking with Jesus is not really belonging to Him. Real gospel living as symbolized in Luke by His table fellowship with the lowly is required.

* 13:27-30 The background of the sayings is the rejection of Jesus and his message by his Jewish contemporaries (Luke 13:26) whose places at table in the kingdom will be taken by Gentiles from the four corners of the world (Luke 13:29).

* 13:28-29 The Kingdom of God is imaged by the eschatological banquet (Isa 25:6-8). Those who refuse to commit themselves to Jesus find themselves on the outside. God in His mercy and graciousness opens the banquet to all peoples who now form the reconstituted Israel.

* 13:30 This is a common and much used proverb of the time with many applications. Here its primary interpretation is: “Those called last (the Gentiles) will precede those to whom the invitation to enter was first extended (the Jews).” See also Luke 14:15-24. It still applies today as a warning against self-righteousness.

Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)