A Thought for Wednesday 8/28/13

“Jesus said, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able’.”  Luke 13:24

Jesus was responding to the question posed to him: “Are there few who are saved?”  How those who have become unable to enter is inferred by Jesus’ parable of the Master who finally decides to close and lock the door; that is, it will one day be too late for those who delayed their response to the Gospel.  Those of us who claim to be of “The Way”, however, should look a little more closely and try to answer the question not strictly for ourselves but for the sake of the witness of the Church.  Have there been many who are “unable” because of our own failure to live according to what we claim to be True?  Have we called ourselves “saved” while living like we truly worship the evil one himself?  Have we declared our own salvation but have not truly endured transformation?  Are we banking on “cheap grace” that we have come to depend on which asks nothing of us?

Consider the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) in which each slave was entrusted with “talents” from the Master before He departed.  Upon the Master’s return, it was time for the slaves to account for what had been entrusted to them.  Translate that to the Last Day, and one could easily imagine the Master asking each of us who have been entrusted with something special: Whom did you bring with you?  Those who had shown a “return” on the Master’s investment will be rewarded; the one who buried what had been entrusted to him will be cast “into the outer darkness”. 

“Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.  Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.  As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:8-10).  Our Lord asks much of us, but we have been given much more than we probably realize.  What we have been given, then, is to enable not only we who have received to enter through the “narrow gate” who is Christ our Lord but also those to whom we have borne faithful witness out of genuine love.  We are expected to bring guests, so the question for the faithful is this: is our invitation sincere?  Do we really believe there is a heaven, or do we simply hope there is no hell?  The Scriptures bear witness to the reality of both, and the Narrow Gate is to the Kingdom of Heaven; the road to perdition is very wide.  Anyone can enter there, but not everyone will be “able” to enter through the Narrow Gate.  Which do we testify to by our daily living?

Blessings,

Michael