Today’s readings seem to pose a contradiction. The first reading from Isaiah paints a
picture of the gathering of all nations of every language to come to see the
glory of God. It names the lands of
Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubul and Javan, where a sign will be set and
God’s glory will be proclaimed. This
prophecy states these foreigner will somehow be gathered together in
Jerusalem. They will be brought as brothers
and sisters as an offering to the Lord.
The Psalm seems to echo this same sentiment, “Praise the Lord all you
nations; and glorify him all your peoples”, and Response, “Go out to all the
world and tell the Good News.” This surely sounds like a glorious prophecy where
all the people will finally be gathered together in God’s glory.
In contrast the Gospel message seems to indicate
that only a limited number of people will be saved. A question is posed to
Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem: “Lord, will only a few people be
saved?” Jesus answers, but not
directly to the question posed. His
response seems to be directed back to questioner, “Strive to enter through the
narrow gate, for many, I tell you will attempt to enter, but will not be strong
enough”. It sounds like many will try,
but few will enter.
A little background is needed on the “narrow
gate” to make sense of Jesus’ response.
At that time in history most cities had an entrance gate that was a high
and wide archway flanked by two entrances that were low and narrow. The narrow entrances were just enough room for
a person to get through without any extra baggage. The wider entrances were for those who had
camels, mules, and carts packed high and wide with all their with
belongings. They needed the extra room
to get through. The quicker and easier
entrance to the city was the narrow gate.
If you were laden down with a lot of baggage, you wouldn’t be able to
get in through this narrow door. The
wider gates were slower and harder to pass through due to all the traffic of
those waiting to bring in all their belongings.
Jesus’ answer to the question was not so much of
“who would be saved”, but what do WE need to do be saved. In order to be saved we need to get rid of
our own baggage: our prejudices, judgments, and sins. We may think we’re ready to get through the
narrow gate because we profess a certain religion or perform certain
actions. We don’t need to worry about
others getting through until we first address what’s keeping us from getting
through the narrow gate. How can we do this? By recognizing the two things that
we have in common with the people of all nations: that we are human, made in
God’s image, and we are sinners. Since we are all sinners, we need to depend on
Christ’s mercy to get through the narrow gate.
The mercy of Christ is the doorway to enter God’s kingdom.
Friday I had the opportunity to spend some time with
some foreigners trying to enter through the narrow gate. I was at the Johnson County Jail for a
communion service in my ministry of charity.
Even though it’s in the same county I live in, it’s a place with can
seem really foreign. I have to enter
through a heavily secured electronically locked door escorted by guards. I’m in a stark barren room surrounded by
surveillance cameras. All of the inmates
appear quite different from me. They’re
dressed in yellow jumpsuits, exhibit physical signs of addiction, and some are
covered intimidating tattoos. I’m there
to minister to them, but I battle my own prejudices of judging their
appearances. But as I conduct the
service I am humbled by the humility they express. I don’t ever ask about the crimes, but their
prayers they share sometimes give me an idea. Yesterday
all but one of the women prayed for God’s mercy for themselves or a friend in
battling addictions. Their sharing of
their struggles and praying for others shows their dependence on God’s mercy. This experience really made me think about
my need for humility and being just as much in need of God’s mercy.
We too can enter through the narrow gate, but only
through depending on the Mercy of Christ.
The Church provides us with the opportunity to do so through the Word
and sacraments. We hear the Word each
week that instructs us on how to be Disciples of Christ. We strive to live as Christ models for us in
the Word, but we don’t always succeed. And
when we don’t, we need humility to approach the sacrament of reconciliation to ask
for God’s Mercy. We also receive Eucharist to help strengthen us to go through
the narrow gate. But as we heard in
Hebrews we need to have the discipline to listen to the Word and receive the
sacraments.
So we do have the hope of the
restoration of all of nation’s to be gathered together in God’s glory as we
heard in Isaiah. We just need to have
the discipline to depend on Christ’s mercy to lead us through the narrow
gate. Lord Jesus, we trust you will
come in glory with salvation for your people.
