August 25, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) on August 24, 2025 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 66:18-21; Psalm 117; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; and Luke 13:22-30.
In our gospel passage today, someone asks Jesus if only a few people will be saved. He doesn’t give a direct answer. Instead, he gives two sides of a paradox. First, he encourages those people who have been traveling with him to strive to enter heaven through “the narrow gate.” Our reading from Hebrews today expands on the idea of why we should work hard and not assume that it’s easy to get into heaven. But Jesus also declares that people “from the east and the west and from the north and the south” will recline at the table in the Kingdom of God. That sentiment ties into our first reading from Isaiah.
How many people will be saved? The answer is unclear. If we want to reach heaven, our best bet is to be true disciples, to each have a personal relationship with the God who has shown us love beyond our comprehension. Let’s take a moment to celebrate God’s mercy!
For my first ten years as a priest, I was a chaplain for college campuses in the American South. I frequently had conversations like the one I’m about to describe. An undergraduate student whom I’ve never met, let’s call her “Sabrina,” makes an appointment via email to see me, but she doesn’t explain why she wants to talk. When she arrives, I learn that Sabrina grew up Catholic, but she’s been going to her friend Emily’s church for a while. Sabrina feels very welcome there, but a few things they proclaim at Emily’s church make her uncomfortable. Although Sabrina has never met me before, she has brought Emily along with her, setting me up to debate theology with Emily.
This is not a good approach to discerning God’s truth. As a minister, I consider the experiences of individuals first, and our religious practices second. I try to transform this into a friendly conversation by inviting each of the three of us to share our life stories. What has been our experience of church? What has been our experience of God? If Sabrina has been hurt by the Catholic Church, I express empathy, and if appropriate, I apologize. Eventually, we turn to theology. Sabrina becomes very quiet. Emily’s church emphasizes the importance of declaring Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Without doing this, Emily explains, there is no possibility of salvation. Emily cites several scriptures, and eventually, we come to this passage about the narrow gate.
As politely as I can, I ask Emily a few questions. When Jesus declared to his disciples that “No one comes to Father except through me” (John 14:6), were all other people living throughout the world at that time condemned to eternal hellfire? Emily quickly explains that if someone has not heard the gospel, God will probably forgive them for not believing in Christ. I press on. What about people who have heard about Christianity but are not Christians? Will all Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists be barred from entering heaven? And does it make a difference how well the gospel was preached to them?
I explain that we need to look at the Christian tradition as a whole. Yes, Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I should not be afraid to proclaim that in my actions and my words. We each have an obligation to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But as a whole, the Bible prioritizes other themes, including God’s love and mercy for all people, and our obligation to care for those who are poor and outcast, whether or not they believe in God (e.g., Matthew 25:31 – 46). I often turn to the rest of today’s gospel passage. Right after speaking of those denied entry at the narrow gate, Jesus says that people from the east, the west, the north, and the south will enter the kingdom of God.
Perhaps the narrow door that Jesus invites us to enter is related to how well we accept people who are different from us. If we reject people who look different, who think differently, who come from different cultures, or who hold different perspectives, perhaps Jesus will say to us, “I do not know where you are from.”
Jesus Christ is our Savior, but the Bible implies that not all baptized people will necessarily enter heaven. Salvation is a gift from God; we cannot “earn” it. We’re all works in progress, with the Holy Spirit continually inviting us into a closer relationship with God. As R. Alan Culpepper once wrote: “Strive as though admission to the kingdom depended entirely on your own doing, but know that ultimately it depends on God’s grace.” Or, as my friend Bret says, “The Gospel is saving, not so much in the sense that if you hear or believe the right parts, you’ll go to heaven… it’s saving in the sense that it saves us… from condemning the poor, the outcast, and those who differ from us…. By saving us from the worst of human nature, the Gospel also saves those whom we would victimize and oppress.”
At the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the Church declared: “We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a familial way any person, created as that person is in the image of God. Our relation to God the Father and God’s relation to people are so linked together that Scripture says: ‘He who does not love does not know God’ …. The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against people… because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.”
At Old St. Mary’s Catholic Parish and School, we reach out to people who’ve never heard the saving message of the gospel. We collaborate with people of other faiths. We strive for greater unity among all Christians. We stretch out our arms to anyone who feels hurt or alienated from the Church. We want everyone to feel welcome! Today, I hope everyone will stay for the combined Parish & School picnic taking place after Mass, and that we will all exercise that welcoming spirit at the picnic. Let’s make the effort to put on nametags. Let’s each get to know a few people we haven’t met before.
On the night before he died, Jesus prayed that we all may be one. While we can’t assume that everyone will be saved, we can be confident that God loves everyone. We, like Jesus, should pray that we all be one in accepting the love of God. And if I’m ever put in a situation where I have to choose between being judgmental or being merciful, I pray that I will always choose to err on the side of mercy.