At the center of our gospel reading is a question, and it is a question that we also find at the center of our lives. As Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem someone asks him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
Indeed, if existence is for eternity, and if God is our judge, and further, if God can either save or damn, then what are our chances? And how do we know which side of salvation we’re going to be on?
Would that Jesus gave a clear answer! If there is anything we humans are the most desperate for it is an answer to this! If we knew clearly and precisely what God wanted from us then life would be so much better, so much cleaner, so much clearer. The basic anxiety of existence would be settled. But Jesus’ answer is complex and contradictory.
Let’s start by understanding the dynamics within Judaism of those days. Jewish history was rough – conquered over and over again by just about every major empire since the Bronze Age. A look at their scriptures shows that they felt their history before God was a checkered one at best – and for the most part it was a history of unfaithfulness. They only existed as a unified nation under kings David and Solomon. The kingdom split into two after Solomon. The northern kingdom – with most of the tribes was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. Those tribes were, for the most part, lost. Basically only Judah remained.
So at the root of the question, “Will those who are saved be few?” is a lot of history. Will God only save the tribe of Judah? Will God save all those who have Jewish ancestry, even if they don’t know it? How many non-Jews will God save, and why? Will God save bad Jews simply because they are Jews, or will good non-Jews get in? How much do you really have to follow the religious laws for God to let you into heaven?
I do not think the person asking the question really saw it in light of the way many Christians do today; which is as more of a global question of salvation.
Jesus initially sidesteps the question. He gives a traditional image that implies only a few will find their way, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and now be able.” Okay, this is looking like salvation is going to be tough, and very limited.
But then Jesus makes a transition in his image, “When once the owner has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from…”
With all the questions in the air, the hearers (and we the readers) are shocked to find that we’re already on the outside and unable to get in!
But then Jesus shifts the image yet again. He says, “Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some who are last will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
What does that mean? Jesus is pulling on images from the prophet Isaiah and his vision of a heavenly banquet for all nations on earth. Does that mean then that everyone gets in? But what about the narrow gate that few get in. What about the closed door that no one is left past?
Our heads are left spinning. Our hearts may be knotted by this confusion. Or perhaps our hearts just reject it all as nonsense.
It is my belief that most people in our society live with the idea that if they’re basically good God will like them and they’ll go to heaven. And bad people go to hell. It’s as simple as that. And of course, most people consider themselves to be basically good. They really don’t think about it much. They don’t have interest in religious teachings or a faith community. They don’t really want to hear what is good and what isn’t.
I’ve begun reading the book How to Be Perfect. It’s by Michael Schur. He’s the creator of the Netflix series The Good Place. I haven’t seen that series either, but I’m going to start it. Inasmuch as I have read of the book it seems that what is right and wrong, or good and bad, is actually enormously complex. It is, in truth, completely impossible to pin down. So, as for, “How to be perfect?” Just forget it. It won’t happen. And trying to be good and virtuous may actually not make you any better at all. I’ll have to read the whole book to be sure though.
The point is, and this I am sure of from moral philosophy, the idea of good and bad is in no way shape or form clear.
Consider this parable by Franz Kafka about the human predicament. It’s called “Before the Law” (cited from New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 279. Originally Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories, ed. Nahum N. Glatzer (New York: Schocken Books, 1983)) A man from the country seeks admission to the Law. When the doorkeeper tells him he may not enter, he looks through the open door, but the doorkeeper warns him that he is just the first of a series of doorkeepers, each one more terrible than the one before. So the man waits for the doorkeeper’s permission to enter. For days and then years, the man talks with the doorkeeper, answers his questions, and attempts to bribe him, but wit no success. The doorkeeper takes the man’s bribes, saying he is only doing so in order that the man will not think he has neglected anything. As the man lies dying, he sees a radiance streaming from the gateway to the Law. Thinking of one question he has not asked, he beckons the doorkeeper and ask him why in all those years no one else has come to that gate. The doorkeeper responds: “No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you. Now I am going to shut it.”
It is a very intriguing parable! It is just as impossible as Jesus’ response to the person who asked him a question. What then are we to do? We are faced with the impossible – and eternity depends upon it!
This is all at the heart of the mystery of election and grace, and free will and determinism. This is the heart of what we ask ourselves if we contemplate questions like what does it mean to exist? What is consciousness? How do we come to be here?
Underneath all these issues is this: We are dealing with something that is beyond our ability to consciously comprehend. Jesus did not give a clear answer because no clear answer is possible within the limits of our humanness. Will those who are saved be few? Wrong question. It’s a question made from the fears and limits of humans.
Jesus’ enigmatic response takes us to this truth. We simply need to trust God. This is God’s business. It is not our own. Sure, such question will come into our minds. Perhaps they will even haunt us. I know they do some people. But ultimately live in trust of God and let God sort out the technicalities.
Commentator R. Alan Culpepper says this in the New Interpreter’s Bible, “Strive, therefore, as one who dares not presume on God’s grace. Strive as though admission to the kingdom depended entirely on your own doing, but know that ultimately it depends on God’s grace.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 279)
I disagree with him. His suggestion makes it sound like life is a grueling test, and that grace will only come to those most diligent. His thoughts leave no room for fun, or for laughter, or for mistakes, or for indulgence. Jesus, after all, had fun with people. That’s a lot of what got him in trouble with the pious religious people of his day.
No. While I completely agree that it all depends upon God’s grace, and that even our very best attempts at goodness are laughable failures in God’s eyes, live with daring love, knowing that God loves you deeply. Actually, live with daring love knowing that God actually delights in you. Let God’s grace be the first word and the last word and every word in between. Let God’s grace inspire you, and the righteousness will flow authentically from there.
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