First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-23
18“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord. 22For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.”
Psalm 50:1-15
1The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory. 3Our God will come and will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. 4He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgment of his people. 5“Gather before me my loyal followers, those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice.” 6Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge. 7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: “O Israel, I will bear witness against you; for I am God, your God. 8I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; your offerings are always before me. 9I will take no bull calf from your stalls, nor he-goats out of your pens; 10For all the beasts of the forest are mine, the herds in their thousands upon the hills. 11I know every bird in the sky, and the creatures of the fields are in my sight. 12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the whole world is mine and all that is in it. 13Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and make good your vows to the Most High. 15Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:4-29
4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken — that is, things that have been made — in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
22{Jesus} went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
It’s How Wide?
Search the internet and you’ll find that today’s gospel is listed in many places as one of the “hard sayings of Jesus.” This list includes statements like “sell everything you own. Love your enemies. Hate your parents.” Jesus made these statements to shock us, to upset our self-contrived and comfortable picture of God, and cause us to examine our motives, our objectives, and our priorities at the deepest level. These are truths that force us to grapple with the self, the ego, and the sinful nature we constantly struggle with. And today’s reading from Luke is no different.
In today’s gospel passage, Jesus confronts our self-imposed picture of a person’s ability to enter into heaven. Greek philosophy, as well as countless philosophers since that time, have posited that the flesh has no bearing on the soul. What we do and how we behave in this life cannot corrupt the soul. Once we separate the body, which is bad, from the soul, which is good, then we return to that pure unblemished state of when we were first created. Jesus, in His encounter with the one who questioned Him, yet again, challenges this errant notion and gives us another hard saying to wrestle with.
Today’s passage is among a group of sayings like, “it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle…”(Luke 18:25). And, “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). This isn’t the first, nor the last, time Jesus will warn the crowds that entrance into heaven isn’t automatic, it requires effort. On this occasion Jesus repeats the warning as He’s making His way to Jerusalem. As He travels along through the towns and villages, Jesus pauses from time to time to teach those who have come out to see and listen to Him. In the middle of this journey someone poses a question.
We don’t know the identity of this questioner. Was he a scribe, a lawyer, or one of the Pharisees? Was he a Jew, a Samaritan, or a Gentile passing through? Luke doesn’t tell us. Yet the question the man asks is one all of us will ask: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” While the questioner remains a mystery, I’m willing to wager that he thought he would be one of the few who would make it in. Like many, I bet he thought he had it all worked out. What he wanted to know was whether there would be others who would make it beside him and Jesus? It’s a really common misperception.
“Me and Jesus, we got our own thing goin’,” sang country singer Tom T. Hall several years ago. “Me and Jesus, got it all worked out. Me and Jesus, got our own thing goin’. We don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about.” Of course there’s the flip side to the explanation. Maybe the man, asking the question, was genuinely concerned about his eternal status. Maybe he had been listening to all Jesus had said and was examining his life. What’s interesting in this encounter is that Jesus, yet again, turned the questions around on the person asking. Jesus loved to turn exclamation points into question marks. Jesus wanted to challenge popular notions. Jesus wanted the people to reflect deeply about their faith, their motives, and their relationship with God, and He wanted to challenge those who were overly assured about their standing before God. Another thing Jesus chose to do when confronted with a question was to answer the question in an indirect way.
Often when someone asked Jesus a question, Jesus would use the occasion as an opportunity to relate a parable or to pose a question of His own. So, when this person asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus turned the question back on him. Jesus said, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
Jesus continued, “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west, and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” I’m sure it was an unexpected reply!
These are indeed hard words. Here in the US, we, like those of Jesus’ time I suppose, wanted to believe that all nice people go to heaven. We don’t want to accept the fact that our friends, our favorite neighbors, our family members, or even we ourselves for that matter, might not be on the inside. It’s hard sayings like this one, and parables like the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25, that we like to explain away or simply outright ignore. But these are all coming from Jesus Himself and cannot be ignored, brushed aside, or watered down. We must wrestle with them, and that’s what we’re doing this morning. So, today we need to take the time to grapple with this difficult passage head on. That said, notice what Jesus is saying. It really is life changing.
Jesus, first of all, says that there is a narrow door. A small passageway is a concept to which we can all relate. We can see it in our mind’s eye. But think about it, you can’t bring a lot of baggage through a narrow door. Nor can you squeeze very many people through at a time. In fact, depending on the size of the doorway, you can probably only make it through one at a time. When Jesus said, “I am the way,” that narrows the path to heaven down to just one single path. Despite the teachings of some today, there are no “many paths”. There is no universal salvation. There is no umbrella of salvation that says if you are a member of a church, you’re automatically in. Jesus was very clear: “No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). And while the gift of salvation is free, the life of discipleship requires effort on our part.
Jesus continued, “Make every effort [or strive] to enter through the narrow door.” The phrase “make every effort” or “strive” in Greek is ah-go-NEE-zoh-my (you and I recognize the English word agonize) which means to fight, to labor earnestly.” One commentator translates the phrase like this, “Strain every nerve to enter.” In other words, we need to strive with all our might to squeeze through the door. Based on what Jesus is saying, this door then is extremely narrow. It’s a narrow single lane road on a mountain pass rather than a multi-lane expressway that’s wide and flat. An expression comes to mind, “No pain, no gain.”
Compare it to most things in life. Want to have an athletic body? You can’t do it by being a couch potato. It takes work, constant work. You have to pay the price in order to win the prize. Even St. Paul understood this when he said, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul understood that the life of discipleship comes with struggles. We’ve all read the hardships he endured for the sake of the gospel. I was reading a story about a great golfer of the mid-twentieth century, the South African golfer Gary Player.
Player was leaving the course one day, dog‑tired, when an overeager amateur golfer told him, “I would give anything to be able to hit a ball as well as you can!” Player’s usual politeness temporarily let him down as he replied, “No, sir, I don’t think you would. You would give anything to be able to hit a golf ball like me if it were easy. Do you know what it takes? You have to get up before five every day, go out on the golf course, and hit little white balls thousands of times. Eventually your hands start bleeding. Then you just walk to the clubhouse, rinse off the blood, apply [bandages], and you get back on the course, hitting those balls another thousand times with sore hands. That is what you must be prepared to give. The price of success is hard, hard work and even greater mental endurance.” The hard truth is, you have to squeeze through a narrow door if you want to succeed in any great enterprise.
Want to build a profitable small business or make it in a lofty profession? Be prepared to put in long hours. Be prepared to give it your all. Want to have financial security? Be prepared to make sacrifices. Be prepared to set aside a significant portion of your income on a regular basis to put into savings or investments. Want to have a marriage and family life that’s rewarding for you and those you love? Be prepared to make sacrifices, to compromise and to learn and to grow. The concept of the narrow door is present in every worthwhile task in life. So why do we take our life of discipleship differently?
It seems that the only place in our society where we expect to have gain with no pain is the life of faith! We’ve turned God into an overly doting Grandparent who is eager to shower us with all kinds of blessings and demand very little from us in return. God isn’t some vending machine that we go to whenever we want something. A life of faith comes with trials, tribulations, and demands on our time, efforts, and energy. Jesus said, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” These are hard words; the door to eternal life is narrow. Oh, but there’s more. Just when you think Jesus will give us a way out, it gets worse. Jesus adds to the difficulty. Not only is the door narrow, it’s only open for a limited time.
As if the narrow passageway isn’t enough, Jesus continues: “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’” We know who the owner of the house is, it’s God: the question is, who is the owner of the house talking to? Again, hard words that force us to ask, is it me? We have reason for concern. Jesus wants to make us uncomfortable. Not only is the door narrow, it’s only open for a limited time. If you don’t squeeze through it while it’s open, you may not get through it at all. Again, this is a concept to which we should be able to relate.
Setting aside the fact that none of us know the day or hour of our last breath, consider this, there are some important tasks in life at which we only get one chance. Parenthood, for example, is a task at which you only get one chance. Raising children is always a challenge. I heard about a little guy named Benjamin. One day Benjamin came running into the kitchen where his mother was working. “Mom, can I please change my name right now?” he asked. “But why would you want to do that?” replied his mom.
“Because,” Benjamin explained, “Dad said he’s going to spank me as sure ‘as my name’s Benjamin!’” I’m not sure I used those exact words with my daughters, but I’m sure the sentiment was the same. Raising children is a challenge. And the truth is, we only get one shot at it. Some of us, of a more mature age, will recall the name Robert Keeshan, or as he’s better known, Captain Kangaroo.
Keeshan once wrote these haunting words: “A small child waits with impatience the arrival home of a parent. She wishes to relate some sandbox experience. She is excited to share the thrill that she has known that day. The time comes; the parent arrives. Beaten down by the stresses of the workplace the parent often replies: ‘Not now, honey, I’m busy, go watch television.’ The most often spoken words in the American household today are the words: go watch television.”
Keeshan continues. “If not now, when? Later. But later never comes for many and the parent fails to communicate at the very earliest of ages. We give her designer clothes and computer toys, but we do not give her what she wants the most, which is our time. Now, she is fifteen and has a glassy look in her eyes. Honey, do we need to sit down and talk? Too late. Love has passed by.” We have only one shot at being a good parent . . . and then the door is shut. That’s the way life is. Sometimes we only have one shot.
In a sense we have only one shot at having a healthy body. We have only one shot at preparing for the future. We have only one shot at an unblemished moral life. Jesus says that, not only is the door narrow, there will come a time when it will be shut altogether. Oh, but there’s more. Jesus goes on to say that just because we’re associated in some way with Him, doesn’t necessarily mean you will be one of the select. This passage is really getting worrisome.
Many listening that day assumed that they would be in because they were descendants of Abraham. Wrong. Being a descendant of Abraham was no guarantee of their entry into God’s kingdom. For us today, it’s not enough to simply be a member of a church or a denomination. As the old saying goes, “Just because a cat has kittens in an oven, that don’t make um biscuits.” Simply having your name on the membership roster of a church and attending worship when it’s convenient, doesn’t give you a guaranteed ticket into heaven. Hear what Jesus says to those who think this way, “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” Things are now getting scary. I told you you’d be asking the question, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Thankfully Jesus doesn’t leave us in a state of despair.
Jesus closes this passage with the following words, “People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” In other words, Jesus says, yes, there is a door and it’s narrow, but for those who come to Jesus, trusting that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who confess their sins and believe that their sins are forgiven, then the door is big enough for any who would struggle to enter, even the likes of you and me.
Here’s the point of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus doesn’t want us to take our Christian Walk for granted. Neither does He want us trying to decide who will be in and who will be out. He wanted the man who asked this question to understand that none of us deserve to get through the door. Nevertheless, some day, those who confess and believe will enter into His presence and all will be well with our souls. And how can we be assured? Because Jesus is the door. St. John records Jesus’ promise: Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in . . .” (10:9)
We believe and understand that we are saved by God’s boundless grace through faith in Christ. We are saved because of His suffering and death on the cross. St. Peter instructs us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus is the narrow door, and we must come to Him to enter. The door to heaven is open to all who would make Jesus their Lord and Master.
In Luther’s explanation of the 3rd article of the Apostles’ Creed, Luther wrote, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me, and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.”
Amen