Reflection for Sunday – August 24, 2025

Irene GoodwinSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13; Luke 13:22-30 
Preacher: Irene Goodwin

Who, day and night, must scramble for a living,
Feed a wife and children, say his daily prayers?
And who has the right, as master of the house,
To have the final word at home?

The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.

Who must know the way to make a proper home,
A quiet home, a kosher home?
Who must raise the family and run the home,
So Papa’s free to read the holy books?

The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!

While looking at the reading for this homily, I attended a band concert in the Buffalo area.  One of the medleys they played was from the play “Fiddler on the Roof.” The above is a portion of a song from the play that speaks of long held important traditions. The story will go on to tell how those traditions and life in general were turned upside down.  Their lives and traditions were reversed.  This reminded me of today’s readings.  There are reversals.

Our first reading from Isaiah is set no longer in Babylon but in Palestine. The Israelite people have been warned about their sin, sent into exile and then comforted.  At this point in our reading, the Israelites have returned to Palestine where they needed to make changes in how they lived and how they prayed. They would begin to worship in the temple, honor the sabbath and once again fast.  Our reading is the very last chapter in the book and it ends with a radical announcement.  Those from far away (Gentiles) will take their place, even as priests.  Wow!  We thought Jesus was the first to speak of a mission to the Gentiles.  Sometimes change or reversals in thought take centuries.

Our Gospel is in the midst of parables that suggest reversal.  The mustard seed story is different from Mark and Matthew in that it gives no description.  Just the smallest becomes the largest.  The next parable is about yeast which when added to flour, changes its character.  In the reading today, the question is asked of Jesus, “Who will be saved?”  I imagine they did not like his answer. A great reversal!  “The last will be first and the first will be last… Many will attempt but will not be strong enough.”  Those who seem to be closest to Jesus may be cast out while those from far away will recline at the table in the Kingdom of God. 

There have always been great reversals in the world.  Empires come and Empires go. We live in a country where we believed we were in small ways working to be better. We were reaching out to the hungry across the world. We tried to welcome the stranger. We were a country with education systems that worked to find cures for difficult illnesses. We were looking at our planet and trying to find ways to protect it and all life around it.  Then something happened.  It appears much of all of that has reversed.

 Our lives take reversals also when we leave school, leave home, lose a spouse or any great loss.  As my son and his family prepare their first child to leave for college, I can’t help but think: he will return but nothing will be the same.

Our Church has had great changes through the centuries. Even as recently as the last one hundred years. What is important and what is not has changed dramatically. I think of growing up believing heaven was above the clouds and hell was below ground. Catholics thought we were the only ones going to heaven. Some might say the only ones saved.  As a child, I worried about dying with mortal sin on my soul and missing Mass would be a criterion for grave sin. For some changing the Mass after Vatican II sent them away.   

When thinking of the changes to our church and even in how we believe, I wonder what changes could come in the future?  Could there ever be a big reversal in our faith or how we practice our faith?  We live in a time when our church is as split as our country.  It appears that Pope Leo XIV will, at the very least, keep us on the status quo.  Some in the U.S. Church would like us to go backwards. Yet some are moving in another direction. They are looking for new ways to explain old traditions. They are looking to the sciences and reconciling their beliefs with that knowledge. Is it possible we could ever have a great reversal where the Church values love over law?  

The opening question in the Gospel today was who will be saved.  Perhaps, we might ask a different question.  If Isaiah predicted such a reversal as Gentiles coming from across the world and serving as priests; should we be asking who is welcome at our tables?  Wouldn’t it be a great reversal to be able to say all are truly welcome, not just in our churches but also at our table?

Irene Goodwin
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