* 21(C), August 21, 2010
* Theme: God Calls All; We Narrow The Gate

* God calls all to enter through the Narrow Gate
* Image:  Standing in line in front of a night club waiting to get in.
* Those in front say, “First come first served”
* Others say, “I know the owner”
* Others, “I am dressed the best take me”
* Jesus says, it doesn’t work that way.
* Maybe someone will be let in from the back of the line
* Maybe someone will be let in who is not even in line

* Two Movements in the readings today that strike me as almost contradictory:
* 1st Reading (Isaiah 66): All nations coming to the Holy City of God
* Gospel (Luke 13):  People turned away from the Narrow Gate

* Growing up I believed:
* We come to the Promised Land, the Holy City
* God made the gate narrow so that only a few could pass through:
* If I committed myself
* If I did not make any mistakes
* If I lived perfectly, I could get in.
* Imagine my horror when I found out that I was not perfect,
* That I made mistakes;
* And from time to time I had to ask forgiveness of God and of my brothers and sisters.

* You can hear in today’s gospel that even for Jesus’ disciples there was a similar concern and questions about who is in and who is out.
* “Lord, will only a few be saved?”
* Perhaps they asked the question because they were meeting so much opposition.
* They must have been surprised and disappointed in people’s lack of response to Jesus.
* They, like us, were probably discouraged at the miserable condition of the world which seemed to be “going to hell in a hand basket.”

* The disciples probably want Jesus to preach a strong message of hell and damnation to shake people up, to scare them into turning and accepting him – and them too!
* But is that the way we think the Prince of Peace acts?
* What kind of conversion would we have if fear, not love was the reason to turn to God?

* So, when Jesus’ disciples ask about “only a few” being saved, he deflects the question and says that the number is not the issue.
* Rather, there is another concern for his disciples to ponder:
* Do they think they will be judged kindly simply because of their claim that they were his friends?
* Do they feel automatically included because they ate with him and he taught among them?
* Jesus’ response can make us church folk feel uncomfortable, for he tells his disciples, “If you think you are first – you will wind up last.”
* You just knew that Jesus would shake up his disciples just as he had done to others who felt smug and better than the rest.
* (Cf. Jude Siciliano, O.P. @judeop.org)

* Personally, I have come to a different point of view than the one I had as a child:
* As I have prayed over the whole of Scripture, not just this one passage;
* As I have dealt with people in pastoral and social situations;
* I have come to realize that it is not God who narrows the gates.
* We do.

* God through the Prophets of the Old Testament, and most especially through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus
* Sends out the invitation to all
* God opens the gates wide

* We, through our hardness of heart
* Try to limit those invited to the banquet;
* Try to narrow the gate to filter out all those with whom we have difficulty.

* Whom am I excluding?
* Those that I think just do not “fit-in”
* Those who do not speak English;
* Those who are too conservative;
* Those that are too liberal;
* Those that are Gay, Straight, Old, Young, Fat, Skinny, etc
* Those that are Muslim, Jews, Pentecostals, Atheists, etc

* As followers of the Lord:
* As we live our lives,
* As we try to understand ourselves and our world better,
* We realize that life is confusing:
* But we are still asked to build the Kingdom of God,

* Jesus says the people who arrive at the door and claim privilege just because they knew him and even call him “Lord” will not automatically enter.
* He will recognize those at the door if he recognizes himself in them; if he sees:
* His eyes – that saw those often unseen;
* His mouth – that spoke the truth and was the voice for those who had no voice in society;
* His hands – that reached out in care and compassion;
* His ears – that listened to those often unheard.
* When Jesus opens the door to see who is knocking, he will want to see a family resemblance – his brothers and sisters.

* At the end of the day, gratefully, we realize that God has squeezed into our world through the narrow gate of love and opened it wide for us to enter.

* Amen

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