Jesus went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!’ There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
- St. Luke 13:22-30
A major part of Christ’s ministry during His earthly life was that of preaching the Kingdom of God – teaching the people how to be subject to the rule of God, how to be part of that Kingdom which begins in this world and which finds its completion in heaven. Did those who heard Him preaching that day immediately grasp what He was saying? A few did, but many didn’t – at least not right away. And we can see that was the case by some of the questions people asked, such as the question which was posed right at the beginning of this excerpt from St. Luke’s Gospel.
Instead of listening carefully to our Lord’s teaching, and thinking about how to apply it to one’s own life, the question expresses more of a curiosity than a search for truth. “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” It’s an interesting question. The question wasn’t “What must I do to find a place in God’s Kingdom?” Instead, like a child who’s worried that someone else might have something better than he does, the question is, “how many others are going to be there.”
So our Lord goes on to lay out some important teaching about the Kingdom of God. He doesn’t answer the question about how many will be in the Kingdom; rather, He outlines four important truths about the Kingdom of God:
1) the door to the Kingdom is narrow;
2) the time for deciding to be in the Kingdom is short;
3) there is no favoritism in the Kingdom;
4) what is important in the Kingdom isn’t necessarily what is considered to be important here in this life.
And these aren’t just obscure theological points He’s making – no, what Jesus is teaching here about the Kingdom of God had an immediate importance for the person who asked about how many would be in it, and his teaching has an immediate importance for each one of us. So we look briefly at what Christ is teaching here.
First, whatever the number of those who will be in the Kingdom might be, the door for getting into it is narrow. A couple of things about that – first, there is indeed a door through which a person must decide to go, reminding us that we don’t start out “in the Kingdom.” There is action required, a decision to be made; there’s a door through which we must decide to go. Our Lord tells us that it is “narrow” – in other words, there’s no room for extraneous things, no room for what we would value in this world. We cannot take our houses, our cars, or our bank accounts along with us. We’re required to get rid of all the excess baggage if we want to go through the “narrow door.” If we try to hang on to the things of this world, we simply won’t fit through the door. Now, Christ isn’t saying it’s wrong for us to have things in this life, but the things we have are to be used lightly – they’re not of ultimate value – and just like we prune a plant to make it bloom more beautifully, we need to undergo a periodic “pruning” when it comes to the things which we ultimately value in this life. Our hope and salvation are in God, and not in things.
The next thing Christ teaches us about entering the Kingdom of God is that the time is short – or, as He says, “When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock saying ‘Open to us.’” It has been the constant teaching of the Church that Christ the Judge could return in glory at any time, and in addition to that, we don’t know how many years we’ll be alive on this earth. So whether it’s when Christ comes, or when death comes, once that happens, our opportunity will have gone. And this is something which is true, even in our daily lives. It’s simply a fact that when each day ends, the opportunities of that day are gone. Opportunities to speak some word of kindness or encouragement, or to do some work of mercy in the name of Christ are over when the day is over. When an opportunity is gone, it won’t return. And meanwhile, the day of death draws closer for each of us – that day when we will stand before Christ our Judge, who will ask each of us, “What did you do to show the love of God to someone else?” In the big scheme of things, we really don’t have a lot a time to accomplish those good things God wants us to do.
And then, our Lord makes the point that in the Kingdom of God there is no favoritism. Why does He make this point? The Jewish picture of the reward for those who had been faithful to God in this life was that of a great banquet or feast, at which only they, the children of Abraham, would be gathered. They understood themselves as the chosen people – and they were, but not because they were God’s favourites; rather, they were chosen to do the work of making God known to the whole world, to Jew and Gentile alike. Christ makes the point that the covenant with God can’t be seen in exclusive terms, as something simply for the physical descendants of Abraham, but God wants this covenant to be with all people. That is why He says in this Gospel, “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from me all you workers of iniquity!’” In other words, there would come the day that there would be those pleading at the door to the Kingdom, claiming to have heard the word of God, but they would be turned away, because the greater question beyond just hearing what God has to say is this: “What have you done about what you’ve heard?” It’s not enough simply to have heard. It’s not enough simply to be descended from Abraham – in fact, when it comes to us, it’s not enough simply to have been baptized and to have gone through the motions of religion. No, what we have received, and what we hear, and what we know, must be incorporated into our lives so that God’s Truth is the driving force in the journey of our lives, rather than just pleasant scenery along the way.
And then, finally, Jesus says there are going to be some big surprises in the Kingdom of God. The idea according to the thinking of this world, of who is chosen or not chosen, will be turned upside down. Those who have a high opinion of themselves in this life may be the very ones “thrust out” of eternal life with God. Those who consider themselves important and chosen in this life, may well be shocked to find others far ahead of them in the Kingdom of God. “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
So in this Gospel Christ reveals to us quite a bit about the Kingdom He came to establish. Its door is narrow, yes, but it is a door through which Christ invites us to come. To enter the Kingdom means that everything we have in this world must be counted as nothing; to enter the Kingdom means that we’ve got to love God and God alone; to enter the Kingdom means that we must daily seek to do God’s Will; to enter the Kingdom means that we must be serious in placing ourselves under God’s rule in this world.
By doing that, and by God’s grace and mercy, Christ will give us a place at that heavenly banquet, where He is the King and Ruler of us all. That is the goal, and that is our hope.