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The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

In the second reading this Sunday, we continue our reading of Saint Paul’s epistle to the Christians in the great city of Rome. In it, Paul writes: “I am the apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13).

Have you ever wondered what the word Gentile really means? It comes from the Latin word Gentili, which means “of the nations.” These people “of the nations” are of nations other than the nation of Israel. So, Gentiles are those who are not Israelites.

In our first reading, the Prophet Isaiah speaks of a future day when “the foreigners” will join themselves to the LORD, thus becoming his servants.

“Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; Their holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

When Isaiah speaks of “my holy mountain,” this is a reference to Mount Zion, the hill in Jerusalem where the Temple stood. When Isaiah says, “my house,” he is speaking of the Temple itself. With this in mind, we discover that in the future, not only Israelites will bring sacrifices, but so will “the foreigners” (i.e., Gentiles).

Jesus made quite clear that he is the New Temple in John 2:19. The huge, magnificent Temple in Jerusalem was where God dwelt among his covenant people, Israel. It was incarnational symbol, so to speak. In Jesus, God has truly taken up human flesh, uniting his divinity to a human body, blood, and soul. and the symbol gives way to reality. In the person of Jesus, God dwells among his people in the most sublime way!

In the New Covenant – which Isaiah prophesies about in the first reading – every human person is invited to offer the acceptable sacrifice of a contrite heart united to Jesus’ sacrifice in the Mass. This is accomplished in the Church, which is the Body of Christ, New Temple.

Before his Christian conversion, Paul was a Pharisee, which is a title that comes from the Greek word for “to separate” (Pharisaios). Pharisees prided themselves in separating themselves from those who were considered unclean: the Gentiles. By realizing just how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Law and Prophets, Paul came to realize that the separation his old sect practiced was abolished. For, Christ has “made us [Jew and Gentile] both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances … reconciling us both to God” (Ephesians 2:14-16).

Through the saving death and resurrection of Jesus, Gentile and Jew have been reunited in the Church, and today’s psalm response rings true: “O God, let all the nations praise you!” (Psalm 67:4)