Sunday the 24th of August 2025 - Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 66:18-21/ Ps 117(116)/ Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13/ Luke 13:22-30

Most clubs require membership. I have been a member of several clubs in my life, these clubs provided certain privileges, access to facilities, special events, a sense of belonging with guests required to be signed in by members or obtain temporary membership themselves. There was security and perhaps even a sense of pride in that exclusivity. We, through baptism, do not become some sort of special member of an exclusive club. The Body of Christ, the Church, is open to all who come. A feeling of privilege or exclusive membership can become a dangerous thing when put into a faith context. The message of the gospel reaches out to all nations and all people; the church has a universal nature reaching out not closing in.

The readings today speak of the inclusiveness of God’s church. The chosen people of Israel of the Old Testament, and Christians through baptism do not belong to some inward-looking exclusive club. It is through us that the gospel message of salvation is passed on allowing all peoples access through the door to eternal salvation. The first chosen must be the instruments by which the last are called to God’s kingdom. We, the first, become the last as we open ourselves up for all people of all nations, guiding them towards the narrow door.

In the gospel passage Jesus is asked how many will be saved. This is an interesting question considering how many people have existed, exist now and are to come. Jesus avoids a direct answer but gives advice on how to enter his kingdom by striving to go through the narrow door. He does comment that many will try to enter but will not be successful. Imagine the horror of hearing the words spoken by Jesus, “I do not know where you come from”. The salvation Jesus has won for us is universally available to all, but Jesus warns that there is a possibility that not all who seek to enter will be admitted. We cannot know who will enter heaven and who will not, it is not for us to judge others. What we must do is seek to enter through the narrowest of doors trying always to be close to God through Jesus. How do we do this? We get to know people through being with them and talking to them. It is the same with God, we get to know God through being with him and talking with him in conversation, we call this conversation prayer. Through prayer we will grow ever closer to God and remove the danger that he could say to us, “I do not know where you come from”.

Rather than be concerned about who or how many will find their way into heaven our priority is to ensure that we are making our way there and will not be told to go away. The warning from Jesus is also for those who think that merely by their privileged position they are entitled to enter the kingdom. Those who think of themselves as first in the queue may find that they are last while those thought of as outcasts take their places ahead of the entitled. In the quest for the narrow door we can look to the suffering we might have to accept in this life. Jesus, innocent as he was, took on a great deal of suffering on our behalf. We can view any earthly suffering we might have to face as an opportunity to join Jesus and follow him through the narrow door into his kingdom. In that way our suffering can be seen as Saint Paul saw it, a kind of paternal disciplining. Not in a punishing sense but in a fatherly, training sense. Parents know perfectly well that their children need to be lovingly trained, disciplined, to live safe and ordered lives. Our earthly lives are a preparation for our eternal heavenly lives.

We must guard against the club mentality in our faith. Baptism is not a membership card that guarantees our salvation regardless of how we live. It is the beginning of our relationship with God, a relationship that needs to be nurtured and grown through discipleship. The church should not be a closed community of the self-righteous but a family where all are welcome, reaching out to all, welcoming all in, not locking them out.

If we are to enter heaven through the narrow door we must take our discipleship seriously, not just going through religious motions but allowing the grace of the sacraments and God’s word to transform us from within, always seeking to cooperate with God through prayer, service, and ongoing conversion. We must not sit back relying on mere membership but strive always to live as disciples of Jesus. Let us make the Church not an exclusive club but a beacon of God's universal love gathering ‘all nations and tongues.’

Instead of asking how many or who will be saved we should ask ourselves if we are prepared and if not, as will be the case for most of us, we must try and enter through the narrow door by getting to know God through being close to Jesus by loving him and others as he loved us. In this way we can be confident that we will not hear the words, “I do not know where you come from. Depart from me…”

God Bless Brendan