Strive to Enter Through The Narrow Gate

Awhile back, the angels asked me to dedicate Sundays to the Gospels. With love and gratitude, here is the Gospel of Luke 13:22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”

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During Mass services today, the Very Reverend Richard Olona had said that the narrow gate is really faith in Jesus Christ, and that it is not just knowing about Christ, or knowing of Jesus, but it is having a relationship with the Lord Jesus. As the people mentioned that they ate and drank in Jesus’ company while He taught in their streets. The Very Reverend said it’s more about a personal relationship with Christ Jesus. It’s about acting on the Word of God, and developing a personal relationship with him. 

Additionally, the Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers and Proclaimers of the Word, mentions that the narrow gate that leads to salvation won’t remain open forever. God overflows with mercy, but God respects our freedom and won’t force mercy upon us. The master’s refusal to open the door isn’t a metaphor for God’s exhausted patience, but of our diminished capacity to accept God’s Mercy. At some point, we become incapable of asking. We shut our eyes and close our hearts, and the love God still seeks to give us can’t find a home in us. No amount of knocking will be of any use because the door we knock on is our own; only we hold the key, but at that point we are warned, we won’t make use of it. 

The words “I don’t know where you are from” do not imply that God makes an issue of our place of origin; rather they suggest the choices we can make can make us into something unrecognizable. Some will not find a home in the Kingdom because they’ve already made a home somewhere else.

Jesus speaks the truth with great regret that the Gentiles who were the last to hear the Gospel will enter the Kingdom ahead of those (the Jews) who were invited first.

Lastly, the Love and Mercy of God is so great; Jesus had also made reference on the Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16, in the Parable of the Workers, that all who enter the Kingdom of God will all receive a handsome inheritance indeed.  

In Jesus’ name- Angel Inspired