Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Now I really don’t follow many TV shows.  However, to be honest, I must say the invention of the Tivo and the DVR has not helped.  I actually just learned how to use it last fall and the ability to watch TV shows on my schedule has radically increased the amount of Time I spend in front of the TV each week.  Anyway that has nothing to do with what I want to talk about tonight.  What I was trying to say is, though I don’t follow many TV shows, I do watch lots of sports.  In particular, this time of year I start watching a whole lot of ESPN and if you know me well you know that this is because I am huge college football fan and a rabid UT Longhorn fan—and we are six days away from kick off.  Now if you watch a lot of ESPN, you will know they are the kings of the human interest story.  Human interest stories are those emotionally stirring tales about how an individual young athlete has overcome great obstacles in his or her life to achieve greatness and acclaim on the athletic field.  These tales of personal triumph over things like poverty and lack of access to education always tug at my heart strings.  I have to admit that I have caught myself, thankfully alone most of the time, with tears streaming down my face as Stewart Scott or Dan Patrick opine about how some young person defied all odds to reach the pinnacle of athletic greatness.  And I know I’m not alone in the way I feel.  Individuals overcoming enormous obstacles, in order to strive for perfection, seem to capture the imagination of many in our world.

In today Gospel lesson, Jesus is approached by an unnamed person and asked a question that was of particular concern in first century Judaism.  The unknown person asks Jesus, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  Some scholars suggest that during Jesus’ life and times there was significant anxiety and difference of opinion around the question of salvation.  Or more specifically a concern over who were the individuals or groups who had the inside track on life with God behind the pearly gates and who didn’t.  This concern reminds of a bumper sticker I once saw that read: Eternity—Smoking or Non-Smoking. 

The unnamed person’s question seems to suggest that at least some people in Jesus’ day thought that salvation—life with God—was a privilege reserved for the select few.   I would venture to say that many within our own church and throughout the Christian church universal are still consumed today by the question of salvation.  Who’s in and who’s out?  How many will be saved?  What about non-Christians?  Is the decision already made—preordained from before time—leaving us powerless over our ultimate destination?  Or does admission to the kingdom of God depend entirely upon our own doing?  A lot of blood, sweat, and tears have been shed over these questions and, not just in Jesus day, but in ours as well. 

I have ministered to young people for eleven years now and I can’t tell you how many times I have been confronted with the question: who goes to heaven and who goes to hell?  At times, I think the question gets asked out of fear, but, more times than not, I believe the question is asked out of a well-intentioned concern for those outside of the church—those who are not baptized or who do not claim Jesus as Savior.  Perhaps you have asked the same questions or had the same concerns?  So let’s spend some time seriously considering Jesus’ response to the unnamed person’s question.

Now, at first glance, Jesus’ initial response might be exactly what some of us don’t want to hear—at least I don’t.  Jesus’ first words read, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you will try to enter and will not be able.”  If these words concluded Jesus’ response to the question, we would all have something to be seriously concerned about, “For many I tell you will try to enter and will not be able.”  Those are difficult words to hear.  Primarily because the people I love including myself could potentially be part of the many who will not be able to enter. 

There is a short story or parable written by Franz Kafka named “Before the Law” which parallels Jesus’ words.  The story is about a man from the country who seeks admission to the Law.  However, when he reaches the door that leads to the Law, the doorkeeper will not allow him to enter.  Therefore, the man spends his entire life waiting at the door trying everything to convince the doorkeeper to let him in.  Finally, after a life time of waiting, the man asks the doorkeeper with his last breath why in all those years no one else had ever tried to enter the door he was waiting to go through.  The doorkeeper responds, “No one else could ever be admitted here, since this door was only made for you.  Now I’m going to shut it.”  The question raised by this peculiar parable for me is: if the door to the Law was made just for that man, why was he not admitted?  Likewise, if God, who loves all people and created all people, made a door for each of us to walk through to be in relationship with Him, why will many be turned away? 

If Jesus’ response ended with the image of the narrow door, we would be left with this question and nothing more.  However, I am pleased to say that Jesus’ response does not conclude with an image of a narrow door.  As Jesus continues to answer the question, his words begin to paint a radically different picture—one of inclusion not exclusion—one of abundance in the kingdom of heaven.  An image of multitudes of people joyfully, feasting.  Jesus continues, “The people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” 

These words of Jesus intentionally refer to a prophetic image of the kingdom of God from the prophet Isaiah—an image with which his first century audience would be very familiar.  Seven hundred years before Jesus lived and walked among us, Isaiah prophesied, “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.  And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death for ever.” 

I can’t speak for you, but I like that image of heaven much more than the narrow door.  Personally, I am a huge fan of well-aged wine and rich food—as you can see.  When I was ordained a priest, I received many wonderful gifts.  In fact, I got so many beautiful crosses that I made a cross wall out of them in my office, which I love.  However, honestly, I think my favorite gifts were a certificate for dinner at Sullivan’s Steak House and a fancy wine bottle opener from William Sonoma. 

In all seriousness, the image of heaven as a banquet prepared for all people from the beginning of time is powerful.  In fact, that image is directly connected to what we do in church each Sunday when we receive the bread and wine in our Eucharistic feast.  As we receive the most precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are given a foretaste and a promise of our share in the great heavenly dinner party that is to come at the end of this age. 

Now, as much as I would like to leave you with the image of heaven as an abundant and inclusive banquet for all people of every race and religion, I have to return to the image of the narrow door.  Salvation or the reality which lies beyond the world around us is complex and so is Jesus’ answer to the unnamed person’s question, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”   By holding the two images of a heavenly banquet and a narrow door in tension, Jesus is, in effect, saying to the unnamed person, “No, not a few, instead an unimaginable number of people will be in heaven from all over the earth.  However, many who think they will be admitted will be turned away.”  Why then will some be turned away?  By itself, Jesus’ response does not provide the answer. 

So is Jesus intentionally leaving us in the dark—and the dark can be a scary place?  I don’t believe so.  I just think the truth transcends the power words have to convey meaning.  As I said, salvation is complex, and, one thing for sure, it is a mystery over which we have no control.  The only thing I think we can say definitively on the subject is that through Jesus’ death and resurrection God has opened the door of salvation for the whole world.  Beyond that, as a church and as individuals, we spend entirely too much time fussing over how one is saved and who’s saved and who’s not.  Quite frankly at the end of the day only God knows the truth.
 
However, Jesus does leave us with a piece of advice worth heeding.  Rather than allowing ourselves to be consumed by questions of insiders and outsiders, Jesus says to you and to me to strive for the narrow door—to strive for the narrow door.  To strive like an athlete who has given up everything and overcome many obstacles to achieve greatness.  There is a saying that saints are the sinners who go on trying.  It matters how you live your life, it matters how you spend your money, it matters how you maintain your relationships.  Strive for the narrow door, and leave the rest in the loving hands of the God of grace.  Amen. 

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