21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

Luke 13:22-30

“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.’” (Luke 13:25)

Intimacy in relationships necessitates patience, time, humility, and willingness to learn more about ourselves and the other. When we encounter confusion, or lose the steam in a relational dynamic, we are invited to pause and discern “why” we are choosing to invest in continuing forward. Such themes felt highlighted in our passage, as Jesus’s response to the question regarding salvation is to dive deeper into motivations. He clearly tells us the way, His way, is difficult and not without trial.

In times of trial, the Christian life requires awareness of the health and reality of our individual relationship with the Lord. Our relationship with Him is no different in its demands for time, vulnerability, responsibility, etc. as He is a lover. 

Living as Christ invites includes countless “locked door” moments where we cannot access the next step by our own strength or volition. In those moments, are we self reliant? Or are we learning how to ask, receive, and patiently expect grace (including in the truly difficult form of refining or discipline) from our Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier?

Jesus is after an authentic relationship, not the appearance of a relationship. If at the end of the day He cannot recognize our voice, because we have not brought forward our truest selves (in both our shadows and light), then how can He meet us face to face?

Today’s passage invites us to ask the Lord to help us know our hearts better; our motivations, our fears; the places within our truest selves that have been beautified and restored by grace, as well as those enclosed with shame where we feel too uncomfortable to dwell. 

Because if we are not aware of these within ourselves, we will never be able to encounter the Truth of Who He is in those places, either. He is a lover, and I pray today we receive the grace, a fresh eyesight, to see and encounter Him as such.