{"id":15145,"date":"2025-08-24T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T23:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=15145"},"modified":"2025-10-05T07:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T06:48:00","slug":"21st-sunday-in-ordinary-time-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=15145","title":{"rendered":"21st Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

One Sunday morning, an elderly man entered a church just before the service was about to start. Although his clothes were spotless, they were very worn and tattered. In his hand, he carried a battered old hat and an equally worn Bible. The church he entered was located in a very affluent and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old man had ever seen. The congregation members were all dressed in expensive clothes and accessories. As the old man took a seat, others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all disturbed by his appearance and did not try to hide it. As the old man was leaving the church, the minister approached and asked him for a favour. “Before you come back in here again, have a chat with God and ask Him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship.”<\/em> The old man assured him he would do so. The following Sunday, he returned for the services wearing the same ragged clothes. Once again, he was completely ignored and shunned. The minister approached him and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.” “I did,”<\/em> he replied. “If you spoke to God, what did He tell you the proper attire should be for worshipping here?”<\/em> asked the minister. “Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He said He’d never been in this church.”<\/em><\/p>\n

We all enjoy exclusive offers because they make us feel special, better, luckier, or more superior to others, or all of the above. I suppose the exclusively singular exception to this rule is all-inclusive holiday packages. A few days ago, I was asked for advice about a seemingly attractive energy contract offer made to my friends. They were very excited about it because it was exclusive<\/strong>. For me, that word combined with the pressure to make a quick decision (the offer was valid for only 48 hours) and the contract\u2019s length of 4 years were red flags, so I advised against it. We encounter similar tactics when we search for goods or services online – the irritating pop-up windows saying \u201c48 people are looking at it\u201d are designed to pressure us into a quick decision before the stock runs out or prices increase due to the supposedly high demand. We tend to be drawn to exclusivity because it arises from our deeply ingrained sense of tribalism. One of the most powerful – though not exclusive – aspects of self-defining a tribe is having a sense of superiority over other tribes. This applies to almost all forms of tribal identity, such as football supporters, political views, nationalism, racism, and so on. Religion, sadly, is no exception. \u201cLord,<\/em> will<\/em> those<\/em> who<\/em> are<\/em> saved<\/em> be<\/em> few?\u201d<\/em> someone asked Jesus in today\u2019s gospel. The question implied the questioner\u2019s desire to belong to such a small, exclusive group of the chosen. A similar premise underpins every division within Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, to name the largest ones… This list can safely include most, if not all, religions and religious movements.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 response seemed to affirm and endorse such thinking: \u201cStrive<\/em> to<\/em> enter<\/em> through<\/em> the<\/em> narrow<\/em> door.<\/em> For<\/em> many,<\/em> I<\/em> tell<\/em> you,<\/em> will<\/em> seek<\/em> to<\/em> enter<\/em> and<\/em> will<\/em> not<\/em> be<\/em> able.\u201d<\/em> But then the parable took an unexpected turn when \u201cthe<\/em> master<\/em> of<\/em> the<\/em> house<\/em> has<\/em> risen<\/em> and<\/em> shut<\/em> the<\/em> door.\u201d<\/em> Those unable to enter pleaded to have the door opened based on their apparent association with the exclusive group: \u201cWe<\/em> ate<\/em> and<\/em> drank<\/em> in<\/em> your<\/em> presence,<\/em> and<\/em> you<\/em> taught<\/em> in<\/em> our<\/em> streets.\u201d<\/em> It sounds like a very close description of what we are doing right now\u2026 The criterion of belonging as the sole ticket to enter the club was rejected: \u201cI<\/em> do<\/em> not<\/em> know<\/em> where<\/em> you<\/em> come<\/em> from.<\/em> Depart<\/em> from<\/em> me,<\/em> all<\/em> you<\/em> workers<\/em> of<\/em> evil!\u201d<\/em> To make matters worse, Jesus reinforced his message with a vision that must have deeply upset his Jewish audience, who were convinced of their utter superiority over pagans, as the Chosen People of God, tracing their ancestry to the great patriarchs and prophets of old: \u201cthere<\/em> will<\/em> be<\/em> weeping<\/em> and<\/em> gnashing<\/em> of<\/em> teeth,<\/em> when<\/em> you<\/em> see<\/em> Abraham<\/em> and<\/em> Isaac<\/em> and<\/em> Jacob<\/em> and<\/em> all<\/em> the<\/em> prophets<\/em> in<\/em> the<\/em> kingdom<\/em> of<\/em> God<\/em> but<\/em> you<\/em> yourselves<\/em> cast<\/em> out.<\/em> And<\/em> people<\/em> will<\/em> come<\/em> from<\/em> east<\/em> and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/em> It was such a preposterous proposition that residents of Nazareth, Jesus\u2019 hometown, nearly lynched him for saying something similar (see Luke 4:14-30).<\/p>\n

In light of today\u2019s gospel, we can ask whether our identity as Catholics places us at risk of falling into a similar dangerous delusion of feeling special, as Jesus\u2019 Jewish audience did. The answer is \u201cthat depends.\u201d The original purpose of designating the ancient Israelites as the “chosen people” was to serve as a light to the nations, demonstrating God’s truth, character, and way of life to the rest of the world. This choice was not for favouritism but for service, creating a model nation to invite all peoples to know and worship the one true God through their obedience to His covenants and laws. However, fallible human nature always tends to turn such praiseworthy election into a source of privilege, domination, power, and a contemptuous sense of superiority. The Greek word \u201ckatholikos\u201d<\/em> means \u201cuniversal\u201d<\/em>; the \u201cKatholikos\u201d Church is universal: offered to everyone and open to all. St Paul described it movingly, addressing an early Christian community: \u201cthere is no longer Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free; but Christ is all and in all!\u201d (Colossians 3:11)<\/em> One of the main things I love and am proud of about our community here is how it reflects this universality of the Church. People from different countries, languages, cultures, traditions, and ethnicities come together as one to respond to the call of today\u2019s psalm charitably: \u201cGo into all the world and proclaim the good news.\u201d<\/em> We must strive to increase our chances that when a stranger asks God about this church community, He will approvingly answer: \u201cI\u2019ve lost <\/em>count of how many times I\u2019ve been there.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One Sunday morning, an elderly man entered a church just before the service was about to start. Although his clothes were spotless, they were very worn and tattered. In his hand, he carried a battered old hat and an equally worn Bible. The church he entered was located in a very affluent and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old man had ever seen. The congregation members were all dressed in expensive clothes and accessories. As the old man took a seat, others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all disturbed by his appearance and did not try to hide it. As the old man was leaving the church, the minister approached and asked him for a favour. “Before you come back in here again, have a chat with God and ask Him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship.” The old man assured him he would do so. The following Sunday, he returned for the services wearing the same ragged clothes. Once again, he was completely ignored and shunned. The minister approached him and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.” “I did,” he replied. “If you spoke to God, what did He tell you the proper attire should be for worshipping here?” asked the minister. “Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He said He’d never been in this church.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-c"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/posts-headers-green.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15145"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15207,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15145\/revisions\/15207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}