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Gospel: Luke 13: 22-30
Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
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.’
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” an anonymous person asks Jesus in today’s Gospel.
The Lord does not respond with a precise number or percentage.
If he said, “Only 5% of humanity will be saved,” then we’d all be sweating! But if he said, 99%, then we’d be shouting for joy. We’d bet our odds, quickly presuming that the warlords, criminals, and evildoers in this world will be the 1% left behind.
But we simply don’t know.
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate” Jesus says. This verb “strive,” means to, “struggle; fight vigorously.”
Think of heaven’s gate as narrowly cracked, requiring force or momentum for us to squeeze through.
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This does not mean that anyone will be excluded.
But think about heaven’s gate in terms of airport security. Although millions of people pass through our airports each year, each passenger is screened individually. If someone is not deemed a threat, then that person is allowed to pass through.
Similarly, every soul is “screened” by God – analyzed, purified, washed clean – before being allowed to enter into eternal life.
This is what makes the gate narrow: individual responsibility.
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In what ways am I striving for eternal life? What gives me momentum? What slows me down?
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“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” an anonymous voice asks.
No, Christ died for all.
Thus, there’s a better question to be asked: “Grateful for what God has done, in what ways am I striving for eternal life?”
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Image credits: (1) Sound Cloud (2) Simply Catholic (3) Artza Box