People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God

Gospel of the Day (Luke 13:22-30)

He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.

Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from.'

And you will say, 'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.'

Then he will say to you, 'I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!'

And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.

And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.

For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

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Reflections:

"People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God"

The promise God made to Abraham in former times still holds firm. What he said to him was: «Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and the south, east and west: all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants for ever» (Gen 13,14-15)... And yet Abraham received no inheritance at all on this earth, «not even a foot's length» but he remained «a resident alien» (Acts 7,5; Gen 23,4)... Therefore, if God promised him that he would inherit the land and he did not receive it during his sojourn here below, it must be that he receives it through his posterity, that is to say those who fear God and believe in him at the resurrection of the just.

Now, his posterity is the Church, which, through the Lord, receives its adoptive sonship through Abraham, as John the Baptist says: «God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones» (Mt 3,9). The apostle Paul also says in his epistle to the Galatians: «You, brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise» (Gal 4,28). He says more clearly still in the same epistle that those who have believed in Christ receive, through Christ, the promise made to Abraham: «The promises were made to Abraham and his descendant. It does not say, 'And to descendants' as referring to many, but as referring to one, 'And to your descendant' who is Christ» (3,16). And so as to confirm all this, he says further: «Thus Abraham 'believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness'. Realize then that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham saying: 'Through you shall all the nations be blessed'» (3,6-8)...

Therefore, if neither Abraham nor his descendants – that is to say those who are justified by faith – receive an inheritance on earth now, they will receive it at the resurrection of the just, since God is true and holds firm in all things. And that is why the Lord said: «Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land» (Mt 5,5).