Faith-The Narrow Gate-Kingdom of God

HOMILY SUNDAY 21 – C

By Fr. Alfred Groleau OMI at the Foyer Lacombe Chapel

(Isaiah 66:18-21; Psalm 117; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13:22-30)

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Fr. Alfred presiding at the Foyer

It is good to remember that St. Luke situates Jesus on his journey back to Jerusalem. This journey covers the second half of his Gospel. It tells us that Jesus is totally aware of his destiny: his death and resurrection that will happen in Jerusalem.

Along the way, Jesus meets people and he continually preaches his message about the Kingdom of Heaven. The way Jesus answers questions is typical of a Jewish Rabbi. He does not give direct answers, and sometimes he does not answer the question that is asked. This is the case in today’s gospel when someone asked about the number who will be allowed into heaven. Jesus does not say: “Many” or “Few”, but he talks about the conditions to pass through the gate of heaven that is narrow. Jesus does not speak about numbers, but he is quite explicit about requirements in a way that might displease his audience who are Jews. They are member of that nation who have the privilege of being called “the chosen people of God.”

More than once in classrooms with young people, I have met challenges to this idea of a nation chosen by God, a nation preferred by God over all others. The Second Vatican Council in Rome did not dispute this notion that the Jewish people were chosen by God for a special vocation. On the contrary, the Council reaffirmed it. But Jesus tell us here that this privilege does not guarantee heaven. Entry into heaven is screened just as the security systems when we board any commercial flight. What is this requirement?

The gate is narrow, but people are not excluded for physical reasons, not because they are too big, too tall, or too small. But Jesus is speaking here to people of that chosen nation, the Jewish people, though they are the ones who first received the promise and they had the opportunity to know Jesus first. What is the matter? It is question of baggage. Just like that camel that could not enter into the small gate in the city wall that was called the eye of the needle unless it unloaded its baggage. The baggage here is a false certitude.  These people, who are the chosen one’s, needed to discard their illusion that their breeding was their passport to heaven. This false certitude does get through the gate.  The Kingdom of heaven comes as a gift from God, not as a birth right.

To those most likely to claim acquaintance with Jesus, Jesus closes the door saying: “I do not know you.” Why is that?

It is because the vocation given to the people of Israel also contained a mission. That mission was to gather all the nations of the world.  It is expressed in the words of the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading today:

…I am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory… I will send survivors to the nations… They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord…  And the prophet speaks of the horses, mules and dromedaries that will carry offerings to the holy mountain thus anticipating the Epiphany when the magi come to Bethlehem guided by a star.

Jesus even uses strong words against those who have come to him with their question accusing them of being evil-doers. This is not because of their evil actions but because their hearts have been closed to Jesus. When Jesus healed the sick in the temple on the Sabbath they blamed him for the time and place of his miracle. It is on a similar basis that, in Mark’s gospel, the family of Jesus are left waiting outside and Jesus declares: “Who are my family now, but those who hear the Word of God and live by it.”

What is the baggage that we must discard to enter into heaven but our false certitudes?  Certainly, we have faced many challenges in this regard in the recent decades. We have had much to learn about the sin of God’s people along with her history of grace. Last week, for instance, a top church official in Australia lost his appeal against the charges of child abuse. These trails are an opportunity for reformation.  When I chose the priesthood some sixty years ago, the Church was in a golden age, replete with seminarians and vocations to religious life; church attendance was high. The Church has lost much of its external status, but now we must rely on the certitude of the beatitudes.  And we will learn it from the weak and the poor among us not from the strong and powerful.

We come to the altar not with pride and resentment of others but with humility and thanksgiving, for salvation is a gift, not earned by us but by Christ.