Luke 13:22–30 ESV – Bible Gateway
As Jesus and his disciples continue their final trip to Jerusalem together the last several Sundays, we have been given in the lectionary readings that are much more somber in tone. This Sunday’s Gospel is not an exception to this. Previously he had been asked questions related to individual salvation, such as the rich young man who asked him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” This time a man asks a more general question “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” As Brant Pitre references[1], this was likely a debated question at the time Jesus lived. Some held more universalist opinions for Jews as part of the covenant, and others a more restrictive view. So likely, the question was to find out where Jesus falls in this debate.
Again, we get another example: “If you ask Jesus a question, you will not get what you expected.”
As Peter Kreeft writes:
So did Jesus answer their question, and was the answer that most people are going to hell and only a minority are going to heaven? No. Why not? Did he give either of the other two answers? No. He did not answer their question at all. He questioned their question. He turned the tables on them, as he always did when he was asked a question. He saw that the questioner was the real question; that the disciples were avoiding the real question. The real question was the question that the Philippian jailer asked St. Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). They were asking a different question, a question about other people, or people in general.[2]
Jesus turns the question around from the general back to the individual. “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” The danger in asking about the demographics of Hell is that often the assumption is that you are not one of those “losers” yourself and that you have a needless interest in the fate of others. This can take the form of the Pharisee boasting about himself and being glad he isn’t like those tax collectors.
St. Basil of Caesarea wrote:
For as in earthly life the departure from right is exceeding broad, so he who goes out of the path which leads to the kingdom of heaven, finds himself in a vast extent of error. (int. 241.). But the right way is narrow, the slightest turning aside being full of danger, whether to the right or to the left, as on a bridge, where he who slips on either side is thrown into the river. [3]
As John Bergsma notes:
Jesus is telling the questioner: “Do not worry about abstract questions like the exact number or percentage of people who will end up being saved. Such knowledge will not be revealed to you and in any event would do you no good, one way or the other. Your concern should be for your own salvation because the path of salvation is not easy.” [4]
Jesus goes on to address those presumptions that they will be saved. This presumption is usually based on false ideas such as meriting salvation because you are part of a specific covenant or church or are basically a “good” person and not as bad as others. That God owes you salvation. You did “churchy” stuff even if you never got around to having a personal relationship with God. Or perhaps presuming on God’s mercy because you are “only human” and never made a serious attempt at repenting of your manifest sins.
Relatedly, Matthew 7:21 says:
“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’
When God, the master of the house, says, “I do not know you,” this is a fundamental error on our part. He has created us to give him glory, and as St. Irenaeus of Lyons said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” Jesus loves us with a passionate love; his passion on the cross was to forgive our sins and bring us back into a relationship with him. God has weighted reality for our salvation and is constantly giving us grace. Many will seek and be unable if they rely on their own will and merit. It is only through Christ that we can be saved. For those not invincibly ignorant of Christ, it is of the utmost importance that we come to know him via a relationship with him.
(Galatians 4:4–7). God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
He gives us everything to bring this relationship about so that we can know him and that he can know us. Our free will rejection of this relationship can cause us to be cast out with “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” still not realizing our fault.
Jesus finishes talking about the type of presumption where we assume others are damned.
As the Catholic Commentary on this passage in Luke says:
In the banquet, some are last ❲eschatos❳ who will be first ❲prōtos❳, and some are first who will be last. For example, some who are Gentiles will enter into eternal life in the kingdom, whereas some in Israel may be judged unworthy to enter (see Acts 13:46–48). This message of reversal will be developed in two upcoming parables, where Jesus contrasts the leaders in Israel with the poor (Luke 14:13, 21). In one parable, the person who goes to the “lowest” or last (eschatos) place is then invited higher, whereas the one who went to the seat of honor ends up in the “lowest” (i.e., last) place (14:9–10). In the other parable, the one invited “first” (prōtos, 14:18) ends up not even tasting the dinner (14:24). [5]
While the specific context is Israel and the Gentiles, this presumption occurs with many other prejudices where we wrongly judge others while elevating ourselves.
In Vatican II, Lumen gentium, paragraph 16:
Everyone is called to form part of the Kingdom of God, for he “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience: those too may achieve eternal salvation. Nor shall divine providence deny the assistance necessary for salvation to those who, without any fault of theirs, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life. Whatever good or truth is found among them is considered by the Church to be a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life”
Peter Kreeft puts this all succinctly:
So if you wonder whether so-and-so is going to heaven or not, Jesus’ answer is: Mind your own business. Keep your feet on your own path, which is me. Look up, not sideways. Looking sideways is a good way to fall off the straight and narrow path. Don’t play God. You’re not the judge, thank God. Literally: thank God that you’re not the judge and that I’m not the judge and that neither Jonathan Edwards nor Oprah Winfrey is the judge. Just be sure you know the judge yourself. Because when it comes to getting into that place, as with some places on earth, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.[2]
Sources
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C – John Bergsma
- Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
- The Gospel of Luke, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Rev. Pablo T. Gadenz
- Lumen gentium
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre ↩
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C ↩
- Basil1 ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma ↩
- The Gospel of Luke, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Rev. Pablo T. Gadenz ↩
