May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
God invites all of the
peoples of the world, and some respond to the invitation. In our reading from the Prophet Isaiah, we
hear about the Lord gathering together all of the nations of the world to see
his glory. All of the peoples of every
nation and every language and every culture will be invited to the holy
mountain of the Lord God. They will come
to the holy city of Jerusalem and make their offerings to the Lord. It will not just be offerings of gold and
silver. It will not just be the fruits
of the earth. The people themselves will be the acceptable offering to God. More precious than gold or silver are the
people that the Lord has invited to be his own.
This invitation
announced by the Prophet Isaiah has been made present to us in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus himself is the invitation of
God. In our reading from the Gospel, we
hear of the banquet of the Kingdom of heaven.
To the table at the banquet will come people from the east and the west,
from the north and the south, and they will recline at the table of the banquet. They are not invited as servants, but as
friends of the master. And yet, not all
will accept the invitation. Not all will
take their place at the table of the master.
In our reading from the
Letter to the Hebrews we hear about the discipline of our loving God and
Father. This is not discipline for the
sake of punishment. This is not even the
discipline given because of disobedience.
This is the discipline that leads to endurance. This is the discipline that enables us to
stand fast in our difficulties and fight against temptations. This is the discipline of the athlete of God
who, with eyes fixed on the unveiled glory of Christ, runs the race to the
kingdom. The Lord God who gives us the
invitation also prepares us to respond to the invitation. We receive the discipline of God because we
are beloved children of God called to the house of the Father.
And the entrance to the
house of the Father is the narrow gate.
In our reading from the Gospel, we hear the parable of those who were
locked out of the banquet. They did not
want to enter the banquet through the narrow gate. They wanted to respond to the invitation on
their own terms. They rejected the
discipline. They claimed to have eaten
in the company of the master, and they claimed to have heard him teach, but the
master did not know them. They had
indeed heard the word and seen the meal.
But they merely wanted to be students who acquired knowledge, and not
disciples who sought to follow the way of the Lord. They wanted to know about the master. They did not seek to know him. And for that reason, they could not enter the
narrow gate.
The narrow gate in only
wide enough for one person. Only through
union with the person of Jesus Christ, who crushes the gates of hell and opens
the gate of heaven by the blood of his holy cross, can we enter into the
banquet. Only through the invitation of
the Lord given freely to us can we approach the gate. Only through the loving and careful
acceptance of the discipline of the Lord can we be united with Christ Jesus. And only through him, and with him, and in
him can we take our place at the banquet and recline at table in the Kingdom of
the Father. Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
