THE TIGHT SQUEEZE

                                         

                                 Lord, will only a few people be saved?
                                                        Luke 13:22

When priests and deacons preach, they do not get to pick the readings for the Sunday Masses. Passages are simply handed to us and that, I believe, is a good thing! Why? Well if we got to pick the readings ourselves, most of us, out of laziness, would avoid the hard ones, the one’s that take a lot of work to figure out and the ones which address difficult subjects. 

Today’s gospel is one of those readings that I did not want to deal with. It is not easy to understand. However, I have learned from years of experience that “taking difficult passages on” always seems to bring new insights.  Let me share what I have learned from reflecting on this gospel.

  

Jesus was making his way through some towns and villages on his way to Jerusalem, when someone along the way asked him this question: “Will only a few be saved?”  From the tone of the question, I am sure the questioner was implying, “Besides me and you, will only a few be saved?” 

As he often does, Jesus answers the questioner in a round-about way but he seems to be saying (1) everyone is invited to accept salvation (2) not everybody will accept the invitation (3) not everybody who says they accept, will be strong enough to follow through on the invitation and (4) when all is said and done, some people will be absolutely shocked by who will be saved and who won’t. 

Are you saved? If you died tonight, would you get into heaven? If so, why? If not, why not?  Is it up to God or is it up to you? Do you even know?

These are some of the questions I have wrestled with while writing this homily. I will try to summarize, in simple everyday English, what I think this gospel means for you and me, today, in our own time.

1. God wants everybody to be saved – everybody!  Regardless of how many religions like to claim that they are God’s favorites, the fact remains that God loves all of us. He willed that all of us should be saved.

2. God not only wants us to respond to his invitation to be in a love relationship with him, now and for all eternity, he has also bent over backwards to reach out to us and show us his love. Time and time again we have let God down, but God has never quit loving us, even when we crucified his only Son.  As the old Second Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation put it, “Time and time again we broke your covenant, but you did not abandon us. Instead you bound yourself even more closely to the human family by a bond that cannot be broken. When we were lost and could not find our way to you. You loved us more than ever. Jesus, your Son, innocent and without sin, gave himself into our hands and was nailed to a cross.”

3. We don’t have to do anything to earn an invitation to salvation. These invitations are free for the taking. All we need to do is accept our free invitation and live as a child of God!

4. If we do accept his invitation to salvation, then what we do for God will not be done to earn his salvation, but be a grateful response to his free gift of salvation. 

5. The “narrow gate” that Jesus talks about is that moment when we “get it,” when we understand what is being offered to us and what we are being invited to! That “squeezing through” is that point in the spiritual life when we are strong enough to say “yes” rather than “no” to that invitation.

6. We don’t have all day. God is patient, but there does come a time when we need to “lay the egg or get off the nest,” we need to accept or reject God’s invitation.

7. Last of all, there are going to be some huge surprises when we get to heaven. The first will be last and the last will be first.” Some of those we would least expect will be there, while some of those we most expect may be missing. Some who appeared to have said “no” by their external behaviors may actually be the ones who said “yes” in their hearts; while some who appeared to have said “yes” by external behaviors, may actually be the ones who said “no” in their hearts. “People look at externals, but only God can see into people’s hearts.”

 

Will only a few people be saved? Well, that does not depend on God, at this point, as much as it depends on us! God wills that all of us be saved, that all of us have a love affair with him for all eternity. His Son has made it possible and invites us to accept this salvation, but he also leaves us free to turn it down. Will only a few people be saved? In a sense, that depends on us, doesn’t it?

As we leave this pulpit and approach the altar, let us remember that we did not come here to petition God to love us. We come here to give thanks because God already loves us.  Christ has done his part. He has made salvation available to us free of charge. Now all we need to do is accept it and say thanks and live in its light. If that acceptance and thanks and good living is sincere, our behaviors will change to be more aligned with God’s will. Let us pray today that the Holy Spirit will give us the ability to accept his gift, give thanks for his gift and change our behaviors to align with his gift!