杏MAP导航

By Fr Edmund Power, OSB

At the heart of today’s gospel is the generous welcome to the banquet in the kingdom of God, extended to everyone without exception. While the inclusiveness of God’s love may not surprise us, it runs against a notable current in the Old Testament: the exclusive choice and preference of God for the people of Israel. Yet even there, we find unexpected, prophetic moments where the favouritism is challenged. Witness the words of Isaiah, for instance, in today’s first reading, I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory. Among the earliest conflicts that the first followers of Jesus had to resolve was the question of whether pagans had to “become” Jews so as to enjoy the paschal life of Jesus. Some of the apostles, James for instance, were cautious about the conditions of access. Paul and Luke, on the other hand, were insistently inclusive. The Pauline position won the day, but the human tendency to exclude would always remain a temptation: a temptation that we see operative in so many situations in the world of today.

The invitation to sit at table in the kingdom of God, however, while issued to all, entails a dress code (cf Mt 22). Or, in the image used in today’s gospel, we must strive to enter by the narrow door. The text does not specify what this means in practice, although it does tell us that those who will be excluded are all you workers of iniquity. These, we may suppose, are the ones who, rather than seeking to put into practice in their lives the core of God’s self-revelation as love, do the opposite: they manipulate and self-serve and damage. Today’s parable implies that God, symbolized by the householder, does not recognize such people because the light of love does not shine on their faces. A superficial and self-serving acquaintance with him will not be enough. While the inclusiveness of the invitation excludes no one, accepting it requires a serious commitment.

If God so easily welcomes people from east and west, and from north and south, what does this imply for our daily lives? Certainly, no one should feel excluded, but at the same time we have the words of Jesus in John’s Gospel, I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you (Jn 13:15). The word of God on the twenty-first Sunday of the year of Luke challenges us to open our hearts in welcome to, well, in fact, to everyone, but without forgetting the wise words of St Benedict, always to practice “discretion, the mother of virtue” (RB 64:19).