{"id":861,"date":"2019-08-19T11:02:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=861"},"modified":"2019-08-19T11:15:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:15:55","slug":"25-august-2019-c-twenty-first-sunday-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=861","title":{"rendered":"25 AUGUST 2019 (C) Twenty-first Sunday of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life\nand Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection\n& Dialogue: <\/strong>For God\u2019s kingdom tradition is not enough; response to the\ncall of Jesus is required. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Isaiah 66:18-21). They will bring all your kindred from all\nthe nations.<\/em> This reading is a very important passage, drawn from the final\nsection of the book of Isaiah, that generally known as \u201cThird Isaiah\u201d. It is\nnot quite certain when this section of the book was composed. It was probably\nquite late, and possibly shortly before the Greek period (312 B.C.). The\npassage was composed after much reflection on Israel\u2019s part on the place of the\npagan nations in God\u2019s plan of salvation. The passage goes on to speak of the\nnew heavens and the new earth which God is about to make. We are in the\npresence of an eschatological discourse on the new age, today\u2019s section in\nprose, others in verse. Today\u2019s reading contains a magnificent vision of the\nfuture. God is about to bring all the (non-Jewish) nations together, and they\nwill see his glory \u2013 in Jerusalem\nno doubt. God is to give an unspecified sign. The sign is probably that Jerusalem and the Temple\nexist and will be at the chosen centre of what God is about to do. While\nmention is made of \u201csome of the survivors\u201d of the nations, we are not told\nanything about them, or from what they survive. The important point is made\nthat God will send some of these pagan (non-Jewish) survivors out as missioners\nto named nations far removed from Israel. (On the named nations see\nEzekiel 27:10-13.) The named nations, with approximate identification, are:\nTarshish \u2013 Spain; Put \u2013 Libya; Mosech (in the Hebrew text, and dependent\ntranslations, such as NRSV: \u201cwho draw the bow\u201d, archers) \u2013 Phrygia; Tubal \u2013 Cilicia; Javan \u2013 the Ionians or Greeks. (\u201cRosh\u201d given in\nsome translations is probably not part of the original text.) It seems clear\nthat this part of the survivors has converted to belief in the God of Israel. Their\nmission is to proclaim the glory of God to those who have never heard of him or\nseen his glory. In this great vision of God\u2019s message of salvation to the\ngentiles, God reminds Israel\nthat they have not been forgotten. On the return from their mission, the\nsurvivors will have gifts for Israel.\nThey will bring their (Jewish) kindred back from exile, in the various modes of\ntransport mentioned, to Jerusalem (God\u2019s holy\nmountain), as gifts to the Temple,\njust as the Jews themselves used to do. Then, in a final almost unbelievable\nstatement, we are told by God that of some of the non-Jewish, gentile,\nsurvivors, he will make priests and Levites, without any mention descent from\nLevi or Aaron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It is a vision to be fulfilled in\nthe New Testament and the Christian Church. The passage is a very apt one to accompany\ntoday\u2019s Gospel reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 116[117]). Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good\nNews.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-130. The Lord trains the one that he loves. <\/em>This\nreading is a continuation of that read in last Sunday\u2019s Mass. In that reading the author of this\nletter gives examples of \u201cthe great cloud of witnesses\u201d, presented by him to\nhis readers as examples to follow. In today\u2019s reading he reminds them that in\nthe difficulties they are experiencing God is acting as a father, and that they\nshould view their problems in this light. According to the teaching of the Old\nTestament (the author cites Proverbs 3:11-12) one of the duties of a father is\nto train his children. If his readers accept their difficulties in this light, they\nare being trained in Christian living, a training that generates perseverance,\na virtue on which the writer in this letter lays great emphasis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em> (Luke 13:22-30). People from the east and west will come to\ntake their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.\n<\/em>The work known as The Testament of\nAbraham<\/em> is a Jewish writing, outside of the biblical canon, containing\nJewish traditions probably known or current in Palestine in Jesus\u2019 day. According tor this\nwriting God sent the angel Michael to Abraham to tell him that the time was due\nfor him to leave this world for the next. Michael acts accordingly, but Abraham\ndemands that he be first given a view of the entire world. This he is granted\nfrom a cloud above the earth; but when Abraham sees people sinning he asks\nMichael to have them out to death. Out of consideration for sinners and of the\ntime they would require to repent, God tells Michael to take Abraham\nimmediately to heaven. On his journey there Abraham sees two gates, one narrow\nwith few passing through and the other wide for crowds. With such a background,\nit is easy understand the question addressed to Jesus by the individual. Jesus\u2019\nreply is addressed not to the individual but to the crowd, to Israel in\ngeneral possibly. Jesus gives no reply as to the number of those saved, but\nstresses, rather, repentance and the need to be ready to enter by the narrow\ndoor, as many will try but not succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The second section of this reading,\naddressed apparently to all Israel,\nis connected with the first by the catchword \u201cdoor\u201d. This is a sort of parable,\non the theme of a locked, rather than a narrow, door. Its message is that it is\nnot sufficient for Israel\nto say that they knew Jesus as one of their own, one who walked, ate and taught\namong them. Here Jesus himself is the master of the house, and his reply is\nthat he does not know them. He describes them as wicked people, without\nspecifying their sins. They are rejected because of their lack of faith in\nJesus, in his mission and in his person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The final section makes the purpose\nof the parable clear. It is judgment on Israel and the calling of the\ngentiles to replace them. There is clear reference to the messianic feast in\nthe age to come, here twice referred to as the kingdom of God,\nas in other places in Luke (14:15, 16-24; 22:16, 18, 30). In the place of God\u2019s\nchosen people Israel,\nnow turned away, there will be gentiles from all four corners of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/strong>: For God\u2019s\nkingdom tradition is not enough; response to the call of Jesus is required.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s gospel reading, as in many other places in the\ngospels, Jesus gives a clear message to his contemporaries and his own people.\nThe promises made to the patriarchs were a great honour, and many pious Jews\nmight believe that by reason of these promises Israel was safe, that God was bound\nby his promises irrespective of any response made to God\u2019s call through Jesus.\nJesus\u2019 clear warning was that this was not so, that they could lose their\nstatus as the chosen people, a warning that was given effect by his death and\nresurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            An  equally clear lesson to be drawn by us from\nthis is that one\u2019s national tradition is not sufficient in matters relating to\nbelief in God and in Christ. We have seen how many of the nations of the old\nworld have lost the faith. The Church moves ahead to new nations and countries.\nIt is too facile an answer to say that this is a matter of \u201ccoming of age\u201d and\nof leaving superstition and fairy tales behind. There is a deeper dimension to\nfaith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things\nunseen. Faith needs to be nourished \u2013 in the soul, in the heart, in the mind through\nknowledge. It is not sufficient to think that fidelity to the faith in the\npast, of persecutions suffered for its sake, will guarantee it in the present.\nA living faith is required, faith in the living God, listening to the voice of\nJesus speaking now as he did to his own people while on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            We have\nrich material for reflection here; material also for dialogue among ourselves\non the response to be made to the challenges facing our belief in God, in Christ\nand in the Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: For God\u2019s kingdom tradition is not enough; response to the call of Jesus is required. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}