Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

At first blush, the words of God the Father through the Prophet Isaiah… and the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel appear contradictory: the Father is speaking of the universality of His love, while Christ speaks of the exclusivity of salvation.  While they seem to be suggesting opposing themes, they actually unify God’s intentions with our response, which is to say that God’s Will is that we be saved, but He’s not going to drag us kicking and screaming into Heaven if that’s not what we want.

So, Our Lord Jesus Christ came to Earth to reveal the Father’s Will, and to teach us how to acquiesce — to turn our own will heavenward. Let’s look at how this message develops through the three Readings provided for us today.

The Prophet Isaiah
God announces, through the Prophet, a vision of salvation that is extended to the ends of the earth. God will introduce His intentions for the world primarily through His Chosen People who will be strengthened through the ministry of His Priests. This is what is proclaimed in the document of the Second Vatican Council known as Lumen Gentium as the universal call to holiness and as the role of the Laity in the world. Speaking plainly, the work of the Priest is to sanctify the people, and the work of the people is to sanctify the world. So, where are the Laity to begin?

The Letter to the Hebrews
Parents are the primary teachers of the Faith to their children. Grasping this, the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews adopts this message with the image of parental discipline of children. Good parents teach their children what is permitted and what is not. For example: 
what is permitted (and encouraged) is:
+Religion
+good manners
+charity, kindness and generosity
+respect for others, especially parents… among other things

what is not permitted (and corrected) is:
+disobedience
+dishonesty
+selfishness
+barbarism of any sort… among other things

Parents know full well that children don’t want to finish their homework… brush their teeth… write thank-you notes, and so forth. Nevertheless, if the parents hang in there, “Strengthening their drooping hands and weak knees,” and if children are properly trained to know, love and serve God, they will develop the grace and strength of character to face the secular world. Living what we have learned, and practicing the Faith in which we have been formed as children, parental discipline will blossom into self-discipline, and then in this manner of living we can, indeed, evangelize the world.

Our Lord Speaking in the Gospel
If Isaiah tells us that God wants us all in Heaven, and “Hebrews” tells us that self-discipline opens the door to Heaven, the Gospel tells us that God isn’t going to draw us there against our will, because salvation is participatory. Our Gospel passage reveals the tension between God’s Holy Will and our Free Will (which sometimes is not-so-holy).

God overflows with mercy, but He respects our freedom, and won’t force us to accept His mercy. In the Lord’s brief parable about the Master of the House opening the door — or not — we find a metaphor not about God’s exhausted patience, but of our diminished capacity to accept God’s mercy, a capacity diminished over time through our wrongful use of our Free Will. The words uttered by the Master of the House, “I don’t know where you come from,” suggest that the choices we make can change us into someone unrecognizable.

The Lord warns us further, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for I tell you many will attempt to enter, but will not be strong enough.” It takes strength to get to Heaven, as well as self-discipline. Those who might say, “I’m spiritual but not religious” are those who have become unrecognizable to Christ. 

Being turned away from the Gates of Heaven, then, is not a from of punishment, but  the consequence of one’s flubbing the opportunities given… turning one’s back on faith formation… and abusing or misusing the gift of Free Will as well as God’s respect for our freedom.

All this being said, it’s never too late to turn back to God and to realign our will to His Holy Will, because, as Our Lord says, “…some who are last will be first.”