Stick to the Plan

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

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

Suppose two high school students ask the track coach what they should do over the summer to qualify for the team next fall. The coach gives each one a training plan and urges them to stick to it. The first student does exactly that, even though he finds it demanding. The other, also seeing the demands, decides that he’s basically fit already, so an hour a week of casual exercise should be enough. When fall comes, we’re not surprised that the first student makes the team while the second doesn’t come close.

This Sunday’s readings remind us that life in Christ works the same way. First, Isaiah tells us that everyone is invited to “be on God’s team;” no one is left out. But then, Hebrews hints that this may not be easy; the Author speaks of discipline, endurance, even pain. Still, this will end in glory, for accepting and working through the pain will make us strong. Finally, Christ drives it home with the first word of his answer to the question about who will be saved. “Strive,” he says. In the original language, this carries a physical meaning, like an athlete in training. We see it again when St. Paul speaks of faith in terms of “competing” (1 Corinthians 9:25) or “fighting the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7).

So, while God invites us all to share in the joy of his Kingdom, a “training plan” is involved. What plan is that? Easy – it is the Sacramental life Jesus gave us and the moral life he preached. Of course, while that answer is easy, living it out is not. Like the second student in the example above, when the going gets tough, we’re tempted to look for a way out, which usually means picking and choosing which parts of Christ’s plan we will do and which we will ignore.

Today, Jesus goes out of his way to warn us against that kind of thinking. Good Father that He is, God sometimes uses very strong words and imagery to reprove us, but again as Hebrews reminds us, this is born of His infinite love for us. He doesn’t want us, and He knows we don’t want, to step into eternity expecting the door to be wide open, only to find it closed and Him saying, “’I do not know where you are from.”

So, let us keep this in mind today and every day: our Lord has given us the training plan. It requires effort, perseverance, and commitment, and isn’t optional. But he has also given us His grace, which is always there to strengthen and encourage us. Above all, from the storehouse of his infinite love, he has given us the promise of a reward far greater than any earthly prize: Eternal life with Him.

All we have to is what is hardest of all: Stick to the plan.

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