The Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025)
Did you know that there is a sort of architecture—or an internal logic—to the cycle of Readings we hear over the course of the Church Year?
Obviously, during the seasons of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, the Readings are chosen to fit the themes and feasts of those great seasons. But even in Ordinary Time, the Readings unfold in a way that not only takes us deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is, but they also open up for us a deeper sense of what it means to really live a life of faith… what it means to live as the disciples we say that we are. And right now we find ourselves in the third Sunday of an eight Sunday arc of readings that are intended to offer us lessons in discipleship.
With one exception, all of the First Readings over the coming weeks are taken from the Wisdom Tradition and Prophets of the Old Testament. This is important, because these readings help provide the shape and focus of our celebrations on these Sundays by offering an array of different symbols and images that all come together to challenge us to shape our lives according the vision of God and the Reign of God that is found in them.
Even more than that, the passages from Luke’s Gospel that we are hearing in these weeks could be folded into the great Wisdom tradition of the Old Testament. We’re no longer hearing stories of Jesus’ signs and wonders, those moments of revelation that helped those first followers to understand who he is. Rather, the Readings are asking us to reflect on how we are to follow this Master Teacher in whom we have come to believe.
The idea is that we no longer need those stories that are intended to inspire us to come to faith. Now, these gospel passages invite us to reflect on prayer, works of charity and justice, and the attitudes that are the ways that we express what we have come to know to be true.
Like the earlier Wisdom teachings, these readings are leading us to consider the demands and consequences of an enacted faith. Because, at the end of the day, our call to discipleship requires more than simply learning the stories of Jesus and being able to parrot back his teachings. Rather, Divine Wisdom calls us to live what we profess, guided by our faith convictions. And so, we have this Gospel passage outlining for us what it means to really hear, to know, and to act on God’s will.
Two weeks ago we heard Jesus instructing us to be vigilant and to be attentive to the signs of the Lord’s coming. Last week we heard about the cost of discipleship and of that passion-fire that was burning within Jesus that he wants all of his disciples to have within them.
This Sunday, we find Jesus offering a very complex answer to what seems to be a simple question: “Lord, will only a few be saved?”
His answer reveals that Jesus understood that the one asking the question wasn’t really concerned about the final head count… they were really more concerned that they themselves would be included. Being the good teacher that he is, however, Jesus gives an answer that redirects the question and offers us a further lesson in the meaning of authentic discipleship.
And so, in the first part of his answer, Jesus tells us what we must to position ourselves for admission into the final gathering of the saved…
First, we have to realize that salvation is God’s gift to us. It isn’t something that we can grasp at or bargain for or make up for ourselves. But it is also a gift that demands something of us. And so, Jesus make it clear that we must engage in rigorous training in order to be in condition to accept the gift of being saved… to say it another way, we, as disciples, have work to do. This is why Jesus says that one must “strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
Now the word “strive” that Jesus uses is the same Greek word (agōnizomai) that was also used to describe athletic training. So, the idea is that just like an athlete training for competition, we disciples have to become spiritual fit and this is why Jesus includes the story about how difficult it will be for some to be saved. But as we heard in the First Reading, this isn’t because salvation is open to only a few. Instead, what Jesus is highlighting for us is that there are some who simply don’t make the effort—they don’t “strive”—to get into the banquet hall that is heaven.
This idea of striving—or training—also comes through in the Second Reading as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews talks about the discipline necessary to build up spiritual strength. Five times the author uses words (paideuō and paideia) that have to do with discipline. And—and this is important—the word discipline as it is used here isn’t meant to imply punishment. Instead, the writer is talking about the training or instruction a child receives parent or the guidance that God provides us for deepening our spiritual life.
In this worldview, everything that happens—the good and the bad—has the potential to help us grow spiritually fit, if we are willing to allow ourselves to be guided by God. When we open ourselves up in this way, we are lead to peace, joy, right relationships, with our drooping hands and weak knees strengthened.
The point of all of this is that every Christian is baptized into the life of Christ and each of us is called to witness to “Christlikeness” in every aspect of our lives… revealing Christ to the world in and through our words and actions. This is how we most effectively proclaim the Gospel.
This is why this question of discipline and discipleship is so important.
And this brings us back to the question of who can be saved…
Isaiah and Jesus make it clear that salvation is God’s gift and that gift places demands upon us. We are the ones who have been tasked with bringing others to God. Every Mass ends with the commission—“Go in peace”—to which we may unthinkingly respond, “Thanks be to God!” But the Readings this Sunday should shake us awake—we are being sent back into the world to be ambassadors—representatives—of the saving grace of God. We—as disciples—"are sent to be the light shining on the hill for all to see; we are sent to be the yeast that enables the dough to rise. We proclaim the God we worship and serve in the way we conduct business in our offices, in supermarkets, in classrooms, in our neighborhoods, and with our families. The way we live proclaims to the world in which we live is that salvation is for all, and we are evidence of this” (from Preaching the New Lectionary: Year C by Diane Bergant, CSA).
O God, who cause the minds of the faithful
to unite in a single purpose,
grant your people to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, amid the uncertainties of this world,
our hearts may be fixed on that place
where true gladness is found.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily prepared for Old St. Mary’s Church in Milwaukee, WI
