Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)
Readings:
Isaiah 66:18-21
Psalm 117:1-2
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), NABRE (New American Bible Revised St. Joseph Edition), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Who Will Be Saved?
How often do you ask yourself about the condition of your
soul and the likelihood of your eternal salvation? As a society, we are too
often overly concerned with our accumulation of material goods and do not
concern ourselves with the imperishable works that will follow the righteous
into eternity. How seriously do we consider that we might not be preparing our
souls for the eternal judgment we all must face? This question is a serious matter
in a time when many professing Christians do not go to confession or even attend
worship on the Lord's Day. Giving God worship, renouncing sin, offering penance,
and conversion continues as integral parts of the Biblical message to every
generation. Eternal salvation is the destiny God plans for all of us (1 Tim 2:3; 2 Pt 3:9), but how many will be willing to do what is necessary to fulfill
that destiny?
Today's First Reading is from the prophet Isaiah's eschatological (end-times) discourse when he prophesies that in the Messianic Age, all nations of the earth will repent and convert to the worship of the One True God. And, as an offering to God, the converted Gentiles will restore the dispersed Jews to Jerusalem. The new Israel of the New Covenant Church that welcomed all Gentile nations of the earth into and universal family of Jesus the Messiah fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy. Many have also seen the United Nations recreating the state of Israel in 1947 and opening a way for all the world's Jews displaced by World War II to have a nation as a further fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. A Jewish state called Israel had not existed since the Assyrians exiled the ten northern tribes of Israel in 722 BC! The recreation of Israel was indeed a miracle.
In the Second Reading, the inspired writer reminds the Jewish Christians of his times and us today that God loves us. Even when we suffer chastisement because of our sins, these corrections are signs of God's fatherly love and concern for His children. Our loving heavenly Father is not a permissive parent; He is a righteous Father who expects the best from His children. A holy God deserves holy children.
The Gospel Reading reminds us that, from the beginning of God's relationship with humanity, His gift of free will has always given men and women a choice between two paths or two gates/doors. All humankind has the option to travel the way of obedience and fellowship with God that leads to eternal life or to go one's own way without God and follow a path that leads to eternal separation from our Divine Father. Jesus offers the same teaching in today's Gospel reading that there are two paths in life: the "narrow path" and the "wide path."
At first, the broad path seems appealing because it calls for no standard of conduct. It is the more traveled path, but it leads to sin, judgment, separation from God, and eternal punishment. The other choice is the narrow, less traveled, more challenging path that requires spiritual strength to stay on course, but it leads to fellowship with the Lord and eternal salvation. God does not desire that any should perish and that all should come to salvation. It is the destiny He planned for us from the moment of our conception in our mothers' wombs. However, the Lord does not force us. Like every person in salvation history, you must determine your ultimate destination; there is no middle ground, and the choice is entirely yours.
The First Reading Isaiah 66:18-21 ~ The Future of the
Just
18 I know their works and their thoughts, and 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; 20 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. 21 Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the
LORD.
In 740 BC, the LORD (Yahweh) called Isaiah as His holy prophet, and his ministry lasted forty years. This passage is part of the prophet Isaiah's eschatological (end time) discourse. God instructed him to prophesy that in the Messianic Age, the nations of the earth would turn away from their pagan beliefs, accept Him as their only God, and restore the dispersed Jews to Jerusalem as an offering to Him. The "fugitives" of the nations (verse 19) are the missionaries the LORD will send to convert men and women, even those in the most distant countries. The passage lists seven different regions. The Lord will send His emissaries to distant lands that have never heard of Him and will ordain some of the future missionaries as priests and lesser ministers like the Levites (verse 21).
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the birth of the New Covenant Church on the Jewish Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in AD 30 was the beginning of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. After His Resurrection and before His Ascension, Jesus commanded His disciples to take the Gospel message of salvation to the "ends of the earth" (Mt 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8) so that all humanity might know God's gift of salvation (Lk 1:30-32; Jn 8:12). On the Feast of Pentecost, 120 of Jesus's Apostles and disciples, the faithful remnant of the old Israel, prayed in the company of the Virgin Mary in the Upper Room of the Last Supper in Jerusalem. On the tenth day after Jesus's Ascension, God the Holy Spirit came to them, filling and indwelling the members of the New Covenant Church with His Spirit, making them members of the newly restored Israel and giving them the spiritual power to fulfill their mission as Christ's emissaries to the Gentile nations.
The Gentile peoples mentioned in the prophecy in verse 19 (except the people of the British Isles) lived on the edges of the Roman Empire in the first century AD, which was considered the "known world" in Jesus's time. According to Isaiah's prophecy, God would ordain a ministerial priesthood of chief priests and lesser ministers to minister to the nations. In the Old Covenant, the chief priests were the descendants of Aaron, consecrated to offer sacrifice and worship, hear confessions, and forgive sins (i.e., Lev 5:5-6, 10b). The other clans of the Levites were the lesser ministers who assisted the chief priests (Num 3:11-13; 18:2-6). The Church, founded by Jesus Christ's Apostles, fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy. The Church ordained Christian priests (the successors of Jesus's disciples) and lesser ministers (deacons), who faced persecution as fugitives in the early years of the Church, spread out from Jerusalem to form faith communities in Asia Minor, Greece, and across the Roman Empire. They served the Christian communities in the same way as the ministerial priesthood in the Old Covenant, except for the sacrifice they offered was the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist.
From the earliest years of the birth of the Church, Gentiles were welcomed into the covenant family of believers in Jesus Christ (Acts 11:19-20, 10:34-48; 15:6-9). Jews and Gentiles composed the first Christian communities. They worshiped as equals in the assembly of the faithful and were partners in the promise of eternal salvation (Rom 3:29-30; 9:24; Gal 3:28). But how would the Gentile nations restore Israel? This part of the prophecy is controversial. Some see the prophecy as only fulfilled at Pentecost in the birth of the Church as the "new" Israel of believers were gathered into the universal Church, including the descendants of the Israelites disbursed into the Gentile nations. However, there is also another fulfillment. In 1947, after many days of debate and in a late-night vote, the Gentile nations of the United Nations voted to re-create the state of Israel. Some see this momentous event as a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. A state of Israel had not existed since 722 BC, when the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and exiled its citizens to the Gentile nations to the east. The action of the United Nations in 1947 may also be the fulfillment of another of Isaiah's prophecies. Isaiah wrote: Whoever heard of such a thing, whoever saw anything like this? Can a country be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? For Zion, scarcely in labor, has brought forth her children! (Is 66:8 NJB). No one can deny that the independent state of Israel was voted into existence on a single day on November 29, 1947!
The Responsorial Psalm 117:1-2 ~ Praise the LORD Who Calls
all Humanity to Salvation
The response is: Go out to all the world and tell the Good
News or Alleluia
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations; glorify him, all you
peoples!
Response:
2 For steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the
fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
Response:
This is the shortest psalm in the Book of Psalms, consisting of only two verses. For this reason, some Hebrew manuscripts join this psalm with the previous one or the one that follows. However, it does have its own identity and acts as the introduction to the climax of the Hallel Psalms, also called the Egyptian Psalms (Ps 113-118). Psalm 117 consists of two invitations to the nations of the earth to praise God (verse 1) and two reasons for that praise: His steadfast kindness and fidelity (verse 2).
The call to all nations in verse 1 to offer praise includes an acknowledgment that Yahweh is the God of all peoples and not just the God of Israel. St. Paul quoted this verse in Romans 15:8-11 as proof that Scripture confirms his teaching that Jesus also came to save the Gentiles and that Psalm 117 reaches its fulfillment in Jesus and His Kingdom of the Church. This psalm failed to reveal its full meaning until after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, when He sent forth His disciples to preach the Gospel of salvation to all nations (Mt 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8). St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, wrote, This psalm contains the prophecy that the Church and the teaching of the Gospel would spread to the ends of the earth (Chrysostom, Expositio in Psalmos, 116).
The Second Reading Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 ~ Discipline
5 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; 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 disjointed but healed.
In Hebrews 12:5-6, the inspired writer (believed to be St. Paul) quoted Proverbs 3:11-12 from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint and identified by the abbreviation LXX. The Greek version of Sacred Scripture was the text commonly used during Jesus's time and the most often quoted translation of Old Testament passages in the Gospels and other New Testament books. By quoting this passage, the inspired writer made the point that God loves us, and even chastisement and correction are signs of His fatherly love and concern for His children. See 1 Corinthians 11:31-32, where St. Paul paraphrases Proverbs 3:12, and Revelation 3:19, where the resurrected Jesus quoted from the same verse.
7 Endure your
trials as "discipline"; God treats you as sons. For what "son" is there whom
his father does not discipline?
The next verse (verse 8), which is not in our reading, distinguishes
between legitimate and illegitimate sons: If you are without discipline, in
which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards. The reference to
legitimate children is significant. Modern society no longer places much
importance on legitimacy, but in ancient times, it was the legal heir who
inherited the land and the father's material wealth. As legitimate children, we
are entitled to inherit our heavenly Father's kingdom and all the blessings associated
with that inheritance. Christians obtained the legal right to that inheritance
upon the death of God the Son (Heb 9:15-17). The inspired writer was also
making the point that fathers do not discipline children who are not their own.
Fathers care about establishing an upright character and good actions in their children,
and to that end, when their children fall into error, good fathers offer
discipline to bring their offspring back onto the right course.
Our heavenly Father is no different. Because He loves us, He disciplines us. His chastisements are meant to be a lesson to help us reform our lives before the Day of Judgment:
In his homily on this passage, St. John Chrysostom taught, "'The Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.' You cannot say that any righteous person is without affliction; even if that one appears to be so; we do not know that person's other afflictions. Of necessity, every righteous person must pass through affliction. For it is a declaration of Christ that the wide and broad way leads to destruction, but the straight and narrow one to life. If then it is possible to enter into life by that means and no other, then all have entered in by the narrow way, as many as have departed unto life" (Chrysostom, On the Epistle to the Hebrews, 29.2; quoting Hebrews 12:6 and also referring to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount teaching in Matthew 7:13-14).
What about the sinner who seems to prosper in his sin? What does his condition suggest? In Romans 1:24-32, St. Paul used the Biblical formula "God abandoned them" (referring to their sins) three times in verses 24, 26, and 28, emphasizing that sin produces devastation to the human body and soul. The position of the sinner who remains in his unrighteous acts is a person in a dire state. When one continually rejects either God's correction through the Church, the intervention of friends and family, or the temporal suffering sin inflicts on life, He will abandon the sinner to his self-indulgence. In such cases, God intends that the judgment of falling to the depths of his sins and the suffering those sins inflict will cause the sinner to "wake up" to the need for repentance and conversion.
How should a child of God respond to the discipline of suffering? Sin is toxic. When sin brings suffering, the Christian must repent the sin, seek forgiveness, be restored in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and be thankful to God for His merciful correction. Other afflictions not associated with personal misconduct can be purifying when the Christian unites his suffering to Christ's suffering as a sacrificial offering, an act of faith that counts towards one's salvation (Rom 8:17).
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.
On the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Mt.
Sinai, God did not immediately respond to their every physical need. He allowed
them to feel hunger before He gave them quail to eat and the manna from heaven
in Exodus 16:1-36. He let them experience thirst to teach them to turn to Him
for help, and then He gave them the miracle of water from the rock in Exodus 17:1-7
and Numbers 20:1-13. God disciplined the children of Israel by training them to
depend upon Him and to trust Him to meet their needs both physically and
spiritually. Another example of God's discipline was the event of the destruction
of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC
and the resulting 70-year exile of the people. God punished His covenant people
for their sins, but He also forgave them and used those extraordinary measures
to secure a blessing for them in a "faithful remnant" of Israel who brought
forth the Virgin Mary and her son. From a daughter of Israel came a human and
divine Son of God to bring salvation to all humanity, from the time of Adam to
all succeeding generations (1 Pt 3:18-20; 4:6).
12 So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak
knees.
The inspired writer's command in Hebrews 12:12 is a
reference to the stance a runner took in ancient times at the beginning of a
race with bent knees and back and arms held low as he tensely waited at the
starting block. Then, as today, as a runner explodes off the start line, his
back straightens, his arms come up, his legs straighten out, and his stride
lengthens. A runner needs proper training for a race to further his hope of
achieving success in a victorious finish, just as a Christian needs good
catechesis (training) to be able to stay on the "narrow path" to salvation to complete
a "victorious finish" on his journey to eternal life.
13 Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame
may not be dislocated but healed.
In Hebrews 12:13, the inspired writer quoted Proverbs 4:26
in the Septuagint, a passage that also uses the "race" metaphor to illustrate
what is necessary to achieve victory in the journey to salvation. That passage
reads: Make straight paths for your feet, and order your ways aright.
Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away your foot from
an evil way: for God knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left
are crooked and he will make your (your plural) ways straight and will
guide your steps in peace. Every reference to "your" in this passage is
plural.
According to Hebrews 12:13, can such a person who has become "lame" by falling into doctrinal error be "healed"? See 1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9; Philippians 2:12-18; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5. The answer is "Yes," one can be "healed" of such an injury even during the "race" if the believer repents and restores true faith and obedience, for God wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). This passage is a warning that salvation is a life-long process and not a one-time event. While making the journey to Heaven, the professed believer faces dangers to his eternal salvation. In 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, St. Paul spoke of a baptized man in the faith community guilty of mortal sin. He wrote that the community must discipline the man in the Lord's name by excommunicating him from the congregation in the hope that such a punishment would result in the man's repentance, conversion, and restoration before his day of judgment so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord (1 Cor 5:5b).
Salvation is a process with many points of justification along every individual's faith journey to the gates of heaven and eternal salvation.
| Past | Present | Future |
| Ephesians 2:5 | 1 Peter 1:8-9 | Romans 13:11-14 |
| Ephesians 2:8 | 1 Corinthians 1:18 | 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 |
| Philippians 2:12 | 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 |
See CCC 588, 1256-57, 1277, 1739-42, 1889.
God's will and the destiny He planned for us is to come to salvation. The only impediment to the blessing of eternal life is one's free will choice to reject God's gift, an act of rejection that one is free to make anywhere along the journey. St. Peter wrote: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay," but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out (2 Pt 3:8-10; also see CCC 1038-41, 1470).
The Gospel Reading Luke 13:22-30 ~ The Choice of Two
Gates
22 Jesus 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."
From the beginning of God's relationship with humanity, through the gift of free will, humankind has always had the choice between two paths or two gates/doors: to travel the way of obedience to God or to go one's own way. Moses spoke of the two ways in his last sermon to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 in choosing the way of life in obedience to the commandments of the Lord or the path that leads to death. The Psalmist provided the same warning when he wrote: The LORD watches over the Way of the Just, but the Way of the wicked leads to ruin (Ps 1:6). In fact, in the early Church, before the name "Christian" was applied to the faithful by believers at the Church of Antioch in Syria, the followers of Jesus were referred to as the followers of "The Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). The same name identified Christians in the Church's early Catechism, called the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, also known as the Didache (see articles 1-6 in the Agape Bible Study lessons on the Didache).
What contrast was Jesus making in the Gospel reading? How does free will enter into our decision? What is the inescapable choice each of us must make? In Jesus's teaching, there are two definite, unavoidable choices each of us must make:
Everyone must choose their ultimate destination, and the choice is entirely ours. The broad path is the way of sin. It seems appealing at first because it calls for no standard of conduct. It appears to be easier to travel because it has no restrictions and more personal freedom. Therefore, it becomes the more traveled route, but its destination is eternal punishment. The other choice is the narrow gate/door and a less traveled, more challenging road that requires spiritual strength. The narrow way is the path that leads to Heaven and eternal union with God.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us that He is the narrow gate/door/way:
How "narrow" is the way that leads to the narrow, less entered gate/door or way? For some of us, it can be as narrow as the eye of a needle (see Mt 19:24). In Luke 13:24, Jesus said: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough." We cannot force our way into Heaven. There is no other path to salvation, as St. Peter testified when he said: "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12). Also see Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25; John 14:6; 1 Peter 2:6-8; and CCC 432, 452, 756, 1507.
In Luke 13:24, Jesus warned us that it takes spiritual strength to enter the narrow gate. What makes this entry only for the "strong" in verse 24 is what the faithful Christian is carrying across its threshold that requires strength. Jesus warned His disciples that they must daily take up the His Cross that opens the way to salvation and follow Him (see Mt 10:38; 16:24; Mk 8:34; 10:21; Lk 9:23 and 14:27). The Cross of personal suffering for the sake of the Savior that those believers carry on the faith journey through life will take them across the threshold of the narrow gate. And what is it that righteous Christians must leave behind that they do not need or won't help them cross the threshold of the narrow gate/door? Crossing the threshold of the narrow gate requires divesting oneself of all unessential baggage, including materialism, pride, self-centeredness, hypocrisy, and all other sins.
25a 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.'
Jesus shared a short parable to make His point. The "master"
is God, and the "door" of the "house" is the gate to God's "House" in Heaven. You
might recall an Old Testament event in which a closed and locked door led to
divine judgment. In the Great Flood judgment (Gen 7:1, 4-5), the people of
Noah's time knew about the coming flood and had time during the building of the
Ark until the door closed to come to repentance and enter the Ark. By the time
the door was closed and locked, it was too late when the floodwaters began to
rise. Compare those left outside the Ark in the Flood Judgment to those in Jesus's
warning. Now is the time to repent and accept Jesus's invitation to
enter the Kingdom because the time will come when it will be too late to make
His Gospel message of salvation your own and pass through the narrow door, just
as those who failed to believe in the time of Noah were doomed to judgment and
death.
25b 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.' 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.
It is not enough to be a "professing" Christian. One must be
a committed Christian who demonstrates His faith by living according to the law
of the New Covenant through the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church. The
literal translation of 25b reads, "I do not know you." To "know" someone in
Biblical terminology means to have an intimate physical (sexual) knowledge of a
person or to have a covenant bond. In Jesus's little parable, the person
knocking on the door (professing Christian) is not "known" to the "master"
(God). The person is not a faithful member of the New Covenant family of Jesus
Christ but has forged a path/belief system of his own in an attempt to enter
the "narrow gate." Tragically, such a person will be denied entrance to the
Kingdom of Heaven and will not become a part of the heavenly family of saints
(verse 28).
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.
In this verse, Jesus alluded to His rejection by many of the
Jews and the invitation of salvation to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46) who, coming from
the four corners of the earth, will replace the Jews at the banquet table in the
Kingdom of God (see Is 43:5-6; Ps 107:2-3). The invitation to come to "recline
at table in the Kingdom of God" in verse 29 has a present and future
significance. The holy banquet suggests the sacred meal of the Holy Eucharist,
the Communion of Saints in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth (the Church): the "thanksgiving"
communion banquet of the New Covenant. It also looks forward in time to the end
of the Age of Humanity when Jesus will return, and the faithful of every
generation will recline at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb that is the ultimate Communion
of Saints in Heaven (Rev 19:5-9; CCC 946-62, 1331).
30 For behold, some are last who will be first, and some
are first who will be last.
In God's Divine Plan, He first proclaimed His Kingdom to the
Israelites (Jews). The Lord called them to be the vehicle by which to reveal the
one, true God to the Gentile nations (Is 49:6; Rom 1:16; Acts 3:25-26). Jesus
gave another warning to His audience in verse 30: the Gentiles, those called last,
will precede those invited first, the Old Covenant people. After the miracle at
Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled and indwelled Jesus's disciples, the
faithful remnant of Jews who became the leaders of the Kingdom of Heaven on
earth (the Church) were spiritually empowered to carry the Gospel message of salvation
to the Gentiles. The Gentiles gratefully accepted the call to salvation, took
their place at "the table" rejected by the Jews, and became part of the New
Covenant universal (catholic) Church.
But our obligation to Jesus's brethren who are our older brothers and sisters in the faith has not ended. Even if they are the "last," we must continue to call them to become a part of the New Covenant family of believers in Jesus the Messiah. St. Paul wrote of this obligation and hope for the conversion of the Jews: a hardening has come upon Israel in part, until the full number of the Gentiles comes in, and thus all Israel will be saved (Rom 11:25b-26). In 2012, Father Peter Vesko, president of the Foundation for the Holy Land, told me that many Jews in the state of Israel are coming forward to accept Christ, more than he had ever seen before. And Agape Bible Study continues to hear from citizens of Israel who are learning about Jesus and embracing Him as their promised Messiah. The great gathering of souls will continue until Christ returns!
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture is quoted
or paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 66:18-21 (CCC 588*, 761*, 763, 1257)
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 (CCC 901*, 1038-41*, 1470*, 1508*, 1808*, 1820*)
Luke 13:22-30 (CCC 588*, 851*, 1256-57, 1277, 1739, 1740, 1741*, 1742, 1811, 1889*)
All are called to enter the Kingdom (CCC 543*, 544*, 545*, 546*)
The Church as the universal sacrament of salvation (CCC 774, 775*, 776)
Do the Father's will to enter the Kingdom (CCC 2825*, 2826*, 2827*)
The narrow way (CCC 853, 1036*, 1344*, 1889*, 2656)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.