Fundamentalists usually ask: "Are you saved?" The question is made by one who thinks he is saved. The interlocutor of Jesus in today’s Gospel asks "Will only a few be saved?" It is a question that derives from one who is unsure whether he will be saved or not. To this one, Jesus gives the answer: "Struggle". The author of the letter to the Hebrews says "Persevere". In the end, those who struggle through the narrow door and enter (Luke), those who do not draw back but continue on fixing their gaze on Christ (Hebrews) will obtain the hoped for reward.
Relevant Articles
- Those Who Will Be Saved (Luke 13:22-30)
- (Hebrews 12:1-13) Endure Your Sufferings as Discipline
- Sentence Flow: Hebrews 12:1-29 with Guide for Analysis
Guide to the Reading of Luke 13:22-30
1. Take careful note of the beginning of the narrative. It mentions Jesus’ progress towards Jerusalem. Try to remember what Luke has written about the significance of this journey to this city portrayed as the place where the prophet has to be rejected and killed.
2. The question of Jesus’ interlocutor reflects the expectations of the times. "Will a few be saved?" Current was the idea that only a remnant will be saved. The Essenes of Qumran thought that they were the remnant. So did the Pharisees who were convinced they were "set apart", "separated" from the rest. See this ISBE article about the "remnant" or from WikiPedia (read only the section on "Remnant" in the Bible)
3. Jesus’ answer to the question moves in three parts. First, it begins with the imperative "struggle to enter through the narrow door." The verb for "struggle" has the connotation of physical combat, as in wrestling. The struggle will be with "the many" who will seek to enter and will not be able to do so. The struggle will take some time. Then the "Lord" of the house "rises" and closes the door.
Secondly, when the door has been closed, those outside will plead with the "Lord" reminding him that they have eaten meals with him and that he has taught in their towns (take note of the way this latter statement is formulated: it does not say they listened to him). But the Lord of the house will reject them with the words: "I do not know where you are from … Go away from me you evildoers." This latter statement is based on Psalm 6:9 (LXX) which Luke has modified. Literally, it goes: "Go away from me, you who work lawlessness (anomian)". In context, it is found within the prayer of a just man who has suffered much from his enemies and is now experiencing God’s salvation. It ends with a prayer for vindication. If Psalm 6 is to be understood as the prayer of the risen Jesus, how would you understand v. 29: "When the Lord of the house rises up (egerthe)…" Who is referred to here?
Finally, the banquet begins. Those outside will be wailing and grinding their teeth when they see who the guests are: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and those coming from all parts of the world: east, west, north and south (these two latter were added by Luke). The provenance of the guests, therefore, is "catholic". Those outside will wail and grind their teeth because they could have been there but were not able to struggle through the narrow door. The guests come from all parts of the world to join the Fathers of Israel’s faith: how many then will be joining the Messianic banquet, few or many?
Review of the Readings
The first reading from Isaiah 66:18-21 is part of an oracle about the restoration of Jerusalem as Queen mother of all cities of the world. Isaiah prophesies that all the world — including the Gentiles who have not known the Lord before — will be gathered there together with the returnees from the exile. And how will the Lord gather these latter? He will be sending those who escaped the great purge announced in vv. 15-16 — a remnant1 — who will be proclaiming him to the nations and bring in the exiles from all parts of the world to Jerusalem where once more the pleasing odor of their sacrifices will rise to the Lord.
The scenario described by Isaiah is similar to the one described by Jesus in the gospel reading. Here, those who will be joining in the Messianic banquet will come from all parts of the world to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The banquet begins after the Lord has closed the door and has driven away from the premises "the workers of evil".
The second reading from Hebrews 12:5-7.11-13 reflects the kind of "agonia", "struggle" that the faithful will have to undergo. The selection should be read within the context formed by vv. 1-17 where the imperatives are made to depend upon the previous section on faith and the example of the ancients (Hebrews 11). In context, the verses underline perseverance and the trial that has to be endured as "training" (paideia) from the Father. See more here.
Suggestions for the Lesson
1. By our baptism, we have been saved. This however should not make us complacent, comfortable Christians. There is still the matter of perseverance, of enduring our daily trials and temptations, of contending in the good fight, Here, the letter to the Hebrews 12:1-2 puts before us the example of Christ who endured the suffering of the Cross. The Catechism quotes these same verses and links them to Hebrews 11 as it presents the examples of the saints and Mary in the Christian’s struggle:
Now, however, "we walk by faith, not by sight"; we perceive God as "in a mirror, dimly" and only "in part". Even though enlightened by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test. The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.
It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who "in hope… believed against hope"; to the Virgin Mary, who, in "her pilgrimage of faith", walked into the "night of faith" in sharing the darkness of her son’s suffering and death; and to so many others: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." (CCC 164-165)
2. Salvation is universal. God intends that all men will be saved, but not all will be responding positively to this desire. If there is a mystery of God’s grace, there is also the mystery of sin: the capacity of man to reject God’s call.
If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance… (CCC 309)
Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it (CCC 311)
3. One should also consider this lesson from Catholic Answers:
"Are you saved?" asks the Fundamentalist. The Catholic should reply: "As the Bible says, I am already saved (Romans 8:24, Ephesians 2:5-8), but I’m also being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18,2 Cor. 2:15, Philippians 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Romans 5:9-10,1 Cor. 3:12-15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Romans 5:2,2 Tim. 2:11-13)." Full Article
For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.
- If we read this with Christian eyes, the "remnant" will be the apostles who survive the "purge" of the Cross around whom will be gathered not only Jews but also Gentiles in a new community of faith originally established in Jerusalem.↩
Email This Post
Print This Post
