21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (year C)

(Luke 13:22-30)

Luke 13:22 He was passing through towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

Luke 13:23 Someone asked him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" He answered,

Luke 13:24 'Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to.

Luke 13:25 When the master of the house has risen and closed the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, "Lord, open to us." But he will answer, 'I do not know you, nor do I know where you are from.

Luke 13:26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.

Luke 13:27 But he will declare, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!

Luke 13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrown out.

Luke 13:29 People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will sit down at the table in the kingdom of God.

Luke 13:30 And behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and some who are first who will be last.

The question posed by the anonymous character ("someone asked him...") was much debated and concerned the number of people who would be saved in Israel. There were those who argued that all the children of the Covenant would participate in the future world. Others, however, maintained that only a few would be saved.

The answer that follows emphasises two elements: the difficulties for Judaism in accepting the proposal of the Kingdom and, for those who accepted it, the difficulty of remaining faithful, leaving behind the Mosaic cult (v. 24); and the urgency of adhering decisively to Jesus while it is still possible, since divine judgment will come without mercy (v. 25) and it will be useless to try to claim to be Jewish and to have shared something with Jesus if there has not been the most sincere and total adherence to him (vv. 26-27). This will lead to their rejection by the eschatological judge, who will cast them out of the Kingdom, where instead will sit both the Fathers and the Prophets, who had foretold that Kingdom, and the pagans who sincerely accepted his proclamation (vv. 28-29), so that the Jews, who were chosen by God from the beginning of his plan of salvation and destined to become a holy people and a kingdom of priests, will be the last; while the pagans, so despised and rejected by Judaism, but who were able to accept Jesus' proclamation, will precede them in the Kingdom (v. 30).

The passage addresses a very important question: that of the position of Judaism towards Jesus and, associated with this, that of the Judaizers, i.e. those Christians who came from Judaism but had never abandoned it, continuing to combine the new teaching with that of Moses, indeed, affirming that the salvation brought by Jesus was only possible by submitting to the Mosaic Law.

Such a position was unacceptable, as it nullified the message of salvation brought by Jesus, bringing new believers back into the fold of Judaism. The issue is addressed in specific terms in the Gospels only by Luke, both because of his closeness to Paul and because of his own ecclesiological interest and, finally, because, as a missionary like Paul and very close to him, he was able to witness first-hand the deleterious action of the Judaizers. The issue will be addressed passionately by Paul in his Letters. In Romans 9-11, he develops a long reflection on Judaism's rejection of Jesus and attempts to give a [very elaborate] answer that reveals all his suffering.

The message is addressed above all to those who have eaten and drunk at the Lord's table after accepting his message (v. 26). It is a message that speaks of "efforts" and of a "narrow gate" through which many try to enter but cannot, revealing the difficulty for Jews to accept the person of Jesus. Many Jews had tried, but they had not been able to make the definitive choice in favour of Jesus, because they tried to reconcile the two teachings, that of Moses and that of Jesus, not having fully grasped the unique and exclusive newness that He brought.

That "strive" (v. 24) reveals how accepting Jesus was not a simple matter, because it led Jewish Christians to break with their social and religious context, suffering heavy retaliation from the religious authorities; and at the same time, family relationships were compromised, creating deep divisions within the family circle. Perhaps this is why, in addition to the inability to definitively leave the religion of their fathers, deeply rooted in the soul of the pious Jew, they tried to make Jesus and Moses coexist, to soften the blow of joining Jesus.

The consequence of this compromise is expulsion from the Kingdom, which weighs on them like a sentence of condemnation. In fact, there is talk of a master of the house who 'will rise and shut the door'; there is talk of a verdict being passed that qualifies them as 'workers of iniquity'; there is talk of a place 'where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth', an expression that we always find in a judicial context of condemnation. This condemnation is aggravated by the fact that these Judaizers see that a part of Israel, the part faithful to the Fathers and the Prophets, enters while they are thrown out. Similarly, when they see the pagans coming from every corner of the earth, here indicated in its extremities as "east and west and north and south," the same thing will happen.

The passage concludes with the sentence in verse 30: 'there are some who are last who will be first, and some who are first who will be last'. The pagans will precede Israel in the new world and take its place because of their willingness to respond to the call.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)