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So I want to begin today with a confession. I struggled to write this sermon. As you know, we are currently celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, or we were, if we're not still. And thus, to honor a Spanish speaker who contributed to the church across the Americas, I decided to preach a sermon highlighting the life and legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

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However, when I began to do exegesis on this passage, I felt like I bit off a bit more than I can chew. In part, I felt this way because the parable of the narrow door is somewhat confusing, especially in Luke's gospel. It's a bit strange. Unfortunately, the

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commentaries that I read weren't very helpful. I should have consulted some of my colleagues, perhaps, now thinking about it. But, you know, as though that wasn't enough, I struggled to connect this passage to Oscar Romero's legacy. Frustrated, I turned to God and I said, Lord, why have you done this to me?

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How can you allow this to happen? Disheartened, I concluded that the Lord's ways are not my ways. But then I remembered. I remembered that I was the one who signed up to preach today.

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I was the one that selected a date that fell in during Hispanic Heritage Month. Moreover, I was the one that selected the passage. And so I guess this is more of an example of how sometimes I blame God for situations I've gotten myself in. Yet despite this bumpy start, rest assured I still have a word for us today.

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You see, today's scripture comes from a long travel narrative in the middle of Luke's gospel, one of the synoptics. Luke draws attention to the fact that Jesus is making his way down to Jerusalem. He's moving with purpose. He's heading to the cross.

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Throughout the centuries, the church has confessed that the incarnation of Christ Jesus reflects God's solidarity with humankind. We claim that in Jesus, God is with us in the most concrete, tangible, intimate way possible. Yet this act of solidarity comes at a price.

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Liberating humanity from sin and death ultimately costs Jesus his life. And so I thought perhaps it is fitting to preach on this passage as we reflect on Oscar Romero's legacy. After all, Romero suffered a similar fate. Now, I realize that

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Some of the details might be fuzzy to some, and some of you might not know who Oscar Romero was. So allow me the historian's privilege to provide some biographical context. Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born in 1917 in the small Central American country of El Salvador. He rose to become

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Archbishop and the leading voice during El Salvador's repression and unrest. He was considered to be a bit of a bookworm. He was more interested in reading and in writing than anything else. And so, when he was promoted to Archbishop, he was actually considered the safe choice among the candidates.

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Yet, His ministry changed after the assassination of one of his good friends, a Jesuit priest named Prutilio Grande, in 1977. Shortly after that, Romero became a fearless advocate for the poor, denouncing state violence and human rights abuses in sermons that were broadcast nationwide on a daily, sometimes daily, or several times a week. And his bold stance made him a target for the present regime.

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So much so that in March of 1980, He was assassinated while celebrating mass. Romero became a global symbol of Christian solidarity with the marginalized, inspiring liberation theology throughout the Americas. In fact, in 2018, Pope Francis canonized Oscar Romero as a saint, a martyr for the faith, and a prophet

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for justice. Indeed, Romero's legacy with the oppressed people of El Salvador embodies God's solidarity with humanity. And this is a modern icon of him holding a small child in his arms. And in the background, for those of you, perhaps all of you who cannot see,

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There are helicopters dropping bombs and illustrating the warfare that was going on at the time. So his solidarity with the oppressed embodied God's solidarity with humanity. His preferential option for the poor mirrored God's preferential option for all crucified people of this world. And it was this commitment that made him an enemy of the state.

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Like our Lord, it cost him his life. Now, saints aren't perfect, but as a former mentor of mine once put it, saints are like windows. Beautiful, stained glass windows. that allow God's grace to shine through them, and that also offer glimpses of a different reality in the here and now.

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As I reflected on Luke's gospel with the legacy of Romero in mind, I was struck by three factors, three attributes that define the reign of God. One is that it's an imminent kingdom. Two, a just kingdom. And three, a borderless kingdom.

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And so in our brief time together, I want to outline how Romero's prophetic witness reflects these attributes in hope that we may glean from it today. Now, in our passage from Luke, Jesus' journey is interrupted by a random person. We don't know who it is, but this person blurts out, Lord, will only a few be saved? You know, if we read between the lines, it seems like this person is asking somewhat of a kind of a question out of nowhere.

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But it It also seems to imply that they themselves are the ones that are going to be saved, right? And therefore it kind of suggests, well, who else besides me, of course, is going to heaven? The questionnaire seems to want to know if Jesus will confirm what he or she already believes.

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Now, I know that there aren't any people like that here today. here at Austin Seminary, but we all know at least one person in a church, in a committee, in an organization that's like this. You know the type. They speak out of turn, they cut others off, they derail the conversation to whatever it is they want to talk about, and they assume they know

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the answer to the question they're asking without having to discern what God might be saying. Now, Jesus could have ignored this person. Luke could have omitted this person from the gospel, but they didn't. Instead, Jesus turns this interruption into a teaching opportunity.

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Yet rather than saying a simple yes or no, Jesus responds with a story, a story that illustrates what God's kingdom entails. Jesus, addressing this person as well as the crowd, says, Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will try, yet will not be able. And see, here's the part that I struggled with, the narrow door. The narrow door is something troubling because it implies that not everyone is getting in.

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However, if we think of Jesus's life, certainly in light of Oscar Romero's legacy, the narrow door can symbolize the costly demands of membership in this kingdom. The narrow door symbolizes costly discipleship. Jesus essentially says salvation is the way of the cross. However, the door does not remain open indefinitely.

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It is eventually shut closed. The text continues. When the owner of the house shuts the door, you will be left outside, and you will knock and say, Lord, open to us. Yet the owner will reply, I do not know you.

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One scholar, one of those less than helpful scholars I read, calls this image an eschatological moment when the time of opportunity is ended. That is, sometime in the future when the cosmic fate of everyone is determined by God. However, it's interesting because the emphasis on the hereafter tends to minimize the imminent nature of the kingdom. It conceals the way in which discipleship relates to the here and now.

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And so to gain further insight into this passage, I did a bit of homework. As true to my role, I went to the archives and I decided to look up what Romero preached on this text. And he said the following, quote, Jesus' word teaches us that the kingdom of God has begun on this earth and that only those who enter by the narrow gate will be united with him.

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the definite foundation. Those who on this earth have not exerted any effort to enter this kingdom will remain outside. In other words, those who have not worked for the kingdom of God, who at the other hour of their death attempt to enter by an other door, will discover that the door is locked. End quote.

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And so, Romero suggests that salvation, in fact, begins in this world, and that those who struggle and sacrifice to establish the kingdom of God within human history get to participate with God. in the making of a new creation well that should at least get one amen all right I got excited just just thinking about it so you see God invites us and in fact all people to participate in this reality now the kingdom is present and it is coming it's here and it's yet to come.

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Now, a just kingdom. You might be wondering, well, how can this be a kingdom of justice? Its doors are shut to those who are knocking. Isn't this a form of exclusion?

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Isn't this exclusionary? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's revisit verses 27 and 28 when the outsiders say, But we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets. And again he will say, I do not know where you come from.

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Go away from me, you evil doers. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the peoples, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are thrown out. Notice who is excluded. Who is left out?

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This group stands in contrast with the patriarchs, and we should include their counterparts, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel, as well as the prophets. Now if you know anything about the prophets, you know that they are advocates for the oppressed. Especially if you've taken one of Professor Cuellar's classes, this should be one of the first things that comes to mind. For throughout the Old Testament, we see Israel's prophets condemning the accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor.

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Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, all rail against unjust rulers, against the powerful, against the greedy, against those who through corruption inflict widespread suffering. This is the evil that got them upset. This is the immorality that riled them up. And so Jesus's word, Jesus's use of the word evildoers signals

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a contradistinction to this prophetic tradition. In fact, some scholars suggest that it echoes the Psalms. In Psalm 6, when David proclaims, cries out to his oppressors, Depart from me, all you workers of evil. The Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

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The Lord has heard my supplication and accepts my prayer. And so I asked you today, isn't this the cry of the poor? Isn't this the cry of the oppressed? Isn't this the prayer of all crucified people throughout the world?

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You see, this is the key to understanding the justice of God's kingdom. For the definition of this kingdom, for you see, by definition, this kingdom cannot have evildoers. For how can you have a just kingdom when exploitation, greed, and violence prevail? It simply cannot stand.

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If you think about it, these evildoers, in fact, exclude themselves from participation in the reign of God. Their actions make them ineligible. And therefore, to allow evildoers in the kingdom would be like inviting hungry hyenas into a chicken coop.

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Pretty soon, you wouldn't have any chickens left. This means, therefore, that entering the kingdom of God entails a transformation, a conversion in which the oppressive ways of the world lose their power over us. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, this sounds all fine and good. This sounds quite, you know, quite inspiring, but I'm no revolutionary.

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I'm just an ordinary Christian trying to do the right thing. Besides, what could I really do? And if you're wondering that, you're in good company. Because Romero thought that too.

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At one point, for most of his ministry, Romero refrained from intervening on mainstream politics. As a parish priest, he served his people. officiated communion. and he had a reputation for being a bit of a bookworm.

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In fact, members of the hierarchy nominated him precisely because of his sort of apolitical, slightly conservative reputation. And by appointing him as Archbishop, they believed that he would mitigate any social unrest. Remember, this is the 70s. Think of all of the

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social movements in this country and throughout the world that were taking place in Africa, liberation movements, civil rights movements here in the States. And in El Salvador, you had the same type of social dynamic occurring. And yet, however, something changed in 1977 when his friend Rugilio Grande was assassinated by the U.S.-funded military forces in El Salvador.

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This sparked a transformation in Romero, and he decided to use his platform as an archbishop to speak out against the state-sanctioned violence. Romero began broadcasting his sermons over the radio, often lasting for hours, and based in the cathedral of San Salvador, his voice spread out throughout the nation, which allowed him to speak directly to the victims and to the families, as well as to the perpetrators of violence on a weekly basis. He took time to name the people who had been killed or who had disappeared.

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And when Romero preached on this text in August of '77, he said the following: This week, a terrifying newspaper appeared which included facts that cannot be denied. These injustices must be investigated so that those who commit so many crimes are the cause of all this terror, and these kidnappings might be held responsible. Who are the people responsible for this? How much longer must we continue to stain the face of our country?

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From the pulpit of this church, I appeal to our nation's justice. Let justice be done, end quote. So Romero used his pulpit in this way to expose the brutality of the state. to recognize the suffering experienced by God's people, and to call the powerful, those deemed evildoers, into a different way of life.

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Romero transformed the preached word into a form of public accountability for the sake of reconciliation. finally a kingdom without borders we see in Luke reference to this attribute at the end of the parable let me remind you what Luke says Luke writes when people then people will come from east and west from north and south and will eat in the kingdom of God indeed some are last will be first and some first who will be last. Now, scholars indicate that reference to the four cardinal directions, east and west, north and south, represent the diversity of the world.

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Yet this is something to notice because Luke is the only gospel that contains all four directions. They symbolize all the nations gathered up among God's people. We see that Luke is unique.

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It's the only one that includes North and South. And this geographic reference casts an image of a global, borderless kingdom that anticipates Pentecost. You see, Luke's vision of salvation points to the pending descent of the Spirit on the early apostles. After all, it is the Spirit who empowers them to speak every language under heaven and to understand languages not of their own, so that the gospel, the good news, may, in fact, reach every corner of the earth.

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The image of a borderless kingdom gives us a preview of what is to come. For in it, we get a glimpse of the eternal kingdom God desires, a kingdom without borders in which the last are made first, the hungry are fed, the rich are humbled, but all may join. at God's table and so in conclusion how can Romero's prophetic witness guide us in this present moment again I'm glad you asked you see building God's imminent just and borderless Kingdom requires us to reckon with and respond to the evil of these immoral times.

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Over the last two decades, countless people throughout the planet have been displaced, especially in the Global South. Climate change, war, economic insecurity, persecution have spurred migration to the Global North. Tragically, however, the influx of racial and religious minorities into predominantly white and historically Christian societies has reignited nationalist flames, flames that we believe were extinguished in the 1940s. Within the last few years, we've seen how white nationalism, white Christian nationalism, has spread throughout the globe and how it's taken root in this country.

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And so, under the guise of national security, the current administration has implemented a lethal no-tolerance policy designed to deter people from deter migrants and refugees from so-called s-hole countries. These policies have consequences, and they are nothing short of evil. Government agencies cage children, separate thousands of families with no intention of reuniting them.

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In fact, earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order allowing ICE to target people based on race, language, and employment in certain industries, what many legal scholars consider to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment. And so in these immoral times, the church has a choice to make, to legitimize the status quo, either through silence or outright support, or to take action, to exhibit solidarity like the one Romero exhibited.

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Taking action will require great sacrifice, but we can rest assured that we serve a Lord who has conquered death and who will not forsake us. Glory be to God.