The Gospel of Luke, chapter 13:24

As Jesus was passing through towns and villages on his way to Jerusalem, someone asked Him: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

Jesus does not answer this question directly, and for good reason. After all, His message of salvation is for everyone. He came “to gather nations of every language” into His kingdom, and no one is to be left out or shut out who is able to answer His call.

What the Lord forcefully says, is that we must “strive to enter through the narrow gate.” “The gate” is a powerful image which Jesus attributes to Himself as our Savior in the parable of the Good Shepherd (John 10: 1-16). “I am the gate,” He says. “Whoever comes in by me will be saved.” The person “who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.”

It takes strength and courage to enter into God’s kingdom (the sheep pen) by going through Christ; by following His example and avoiding the ways of the world which most people seem to embrace, even when they purport to be Christian. “The gate to hell,” Jesus tells us, “is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Jesus pulls no punches in today’s Gospel. He is letting us know that following Him comes at a price; that is, avoid the easy street of sin if you wish to enter through the narrow gate of grace that leads to life.

There is a wonderful parable in St. Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 22: 1-14) which speaks to today’s message and describes God’s kingdom as a banquet, to which everyone, from the highways to the by-ways, is invited. Yet, there is one guest in attendance who is not properly dressed, and he is thrown out of the banquet. The Lord concludes this parable by saying: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Everyone is invited to enter God’s kingdom, but not everyone answers this call in the right way. You answer God’s call in the right way if you enter through the narrow gate; if you repent of your sins and put on Christ.

Fr. Hugh Duffy