Luke 13:22-30
“Lord, will those who
are saved be few?”
One out of 10? 2 out
of 5? One in a million? What’s the percentage number, Jesus? How many will believe, and how many
won’t? Is heaven going to be packed like
sardines – or is it going to be kind of lonely?
Maybe they just wanted to know. Maybe it was simple, straightforward
curiosity driving the person’s question.
I was always raised to ask questions – there’s no such thing as a stupid
question – and so forth.
But the commentaries are pretty harsh with the person who
asks this question of Jesus. They say:
Jesus never manifests
sympathy for people coming with such purely speculative problems.
He who is serious
about his salvation does not ask such a question.
This was an idle
question. Jesus had not come into the world to gratify men's curiosity, but to
save their souls.
The question is
dangerous when put abstractly or academically.
Wow! Speculative,
unserious, idle, abstract and academic!
And so it seems that not every question is a good question. And some questions can even be
dangerous.
For his part, Jesus doesn’t really answer – which shouldn’t
surprise us. Jesus many times chooses
not to answer people’s questions directly.
Quite often, though, he addresses the issue behind the question. The spiritual state of the questioner. The spiritual danger of such a question.
Consider – if the answer to, “will few be saved” was, “no,
not just a few, but many! In fact,
almost everyone will be saved. Only the
really, really, wicked will be condemned” Then how would we sinners react? Would we not be tempted to rest on our
spiritual laurels, confident that our chances of being in the winners’ circle
are pretty good, after all? Might we
grow complacent about repentance and faith?
Surely many are more evil than I am.
Surely the odds are in my favor.
Or else, if he answered, “No. Only a very few will be saved. In fact it’s quite rare. You have only a one in a million chance on a
good day.” Then might we be tempted to
either despair – or redouble and triple our efforts to earn salvation? Might we begin to compare ourselves with
others, in a vain attempt to prove ourselves worthy? Might we whine that God isn’t fair if only a
few are saved? Or question his motives
or methods in this way or that?
Rather, Jesus speaks to the crowds and offers a hard
warning. He uses a mini-parable about a
narrow door and a banquet. And then he
reframes our thinking with an enigmatic saying to conclude the section. And through it all, our Lord Jesus teaches us
repentance and faith.
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell
you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Indeed, that the door to the kingdom is narrow seems to
suggest few can enter. Or at least, that
it is not easy. It takes striving. But what does that mean? Is Jesus here teaching good works? That only the cream of the crop, the best of
the best, the ones with the godliest resume’ are fit for the kingdom? Is the kind of striving he speaks of a
works-based program to punch your ticket to paradise? Surely not.
In fact, as he extends his parable to describe a banquet and
the door being shut – those outside are surprised, shocked, even, to find
themselves unworthy. Having a little
knowledge about Jesus, a loose association with Christ, or perhaps his church, even
eating and drinking with him, doesn’t cut the mustard. They are locked out. He goes on to show that even having the right
lineage – being descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob does not impress him in
the end. Those fellas, along with all
the prophets, will be in the kingdom – but you who fancy yourselves their heirs
– will be cast out. You’ll be weeping
and gnashing your teeth.
These words of Jesus stand as a stern warning for us,
too. Salvation is not something to be
taken lightly, or taken for granted. It
is not something owed to us as a sort of entitlement. We don’t deserve it. Rather what we deserve is to be locked out,
cast away, and condemned for all our rebellion and perversion.
So if the “striving” here isn’t some human program of works,
or a keeping of the law (as if we could), or some other outward credentials or
qualifications, then what? What is the
striving he would have us do to be saved?
I’m reminded of Jacob who wrestled all night with the angel
of the Lord by the Jabbock River. All
night long, back and forth they went, a stalemate, neither getting the advantage. And then finally the angel touched Jacob’s
hip – like a kung fu master – and popped it out of joint. As if to say, “hey, I could have had you all
along. This is no mere man you’re wrestling with” But Jacob still wouldn’t let go. He insisted on a blessing. And so God blessed. “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Israel means, by the way, “he struggles with
God”.
The Christian life is a life of striving, not to do good
works, but of repentance and faith.
Striving for God’s blessing, which we in no wise deserve. Hating our sinful nature, and struggling to
drown that Old Adam in daily in the waves that flow from the font. Wrestling with our conscience, and disciplining
our flesh. But also grappling with God’s
holy word and steeping ourselves in his promises. It means clinging for dear life to Jesus,
even all through the night of sin and sorrow, and begging for the blessing that
he alone can give.
And in yet another non-answer to the original question,
Jesus makes the enigmatic concluding statement, “Some who are first will be
last and some who are last will be first”.
That is to say, some of the last people that you would expect to enter
his kingdom – will be the first to do so.
And some of the first people that you expect, will be last. Your expectations will be blasted to
smithereens by the other-worldly grace he gives. Gentiles, yes even Gentiles will join the
banquet. So long despised and considered
unworthy by many of the Jews. Gentiles
will enter the kingdom. People from east
and west. Foreigners and aliens. And you, who think yourselves most worthy,
will be on the outside looking in.
Isaiah saw it coming in his prophecy – we heard that in our reading
today, too. So it shouldn’t have surprised
them. But it did.
Are so are those who will be saved few? Doesn’t sound like it if nations upon nations
are gathered to the kingdom. It sounds
like multitudes and many. Such is the
grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God we are not saved by the quality of our
theological questions, by the extensiveness of our study or the letters after
our name. It’s not the good works that
we do or the sins we avoid. It’s not the
way we compare to our neighbor, or to some man-made standard. It’s not our heritage or lineage or any other
credential or certification or qualification or self-justification. The narrow door through which we must enter
the kingdom is Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
And Jesus Christ alone.
And so what of this enigmatic statement of Jesus: “Behold: some ho are last who will be first,
and some who are first who will be last.”
It is a reminder that God thinks differently than the
world. His ways are strange and alien to
us. Who we think should be or will be
saved – might not. And who we think must
be condemned and locked out – might be found at the banquet in the
kingdom. Rest not on your worldly
thinking, your earthly logic. But
instead submit to God’s way – the way of grace – the foolishness of the Gospel,
the scandal of the cross.
And know that not all questions are bad. Take this one. When Paul and Silas were in the Phillipian
prison, and got out of jail free by means of a holy earthquake… the jailer, a
gentile, came to them with a question:
Then he brought them
out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They didn’t prescribe him a program, or demand
circumcision. They didn’t tell him to do
unto others and fulfill the commandments.
But they answered him directly, simply, and beautifully:
And they said,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
(Acts 16:30-31)
So, too, for you and me.
Strive to enter through the narrow door, that is to say, believe in the
Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
In his holy name.
Amen.
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