The
shepherd casts the lost sheep over his shoulders
and
happily carries it safely home. (Lk.
15:5-6)
“The Door
to Heaven is Narrow!”
21st
Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2013,
Isaiah
66:18-21 Hebrews 12:5-7; 11 Luke
13:22-30
2nd
reading from Hebrews
Brothers and sisters, have you forgotten the encouraging words which
God speaks to you as his sons?
“My son, pay attention when the Lord punishes
you, and do not be discouraged when He rebukes you. Because the Lord punishes
everyone He loves, and chastises everyone He accepts as a son.[1]”
Therefore, endure your sufferings
as being a father’s punishment. For
your sufferings show that God is treating you as his sons. Was there ever a son
who was not punished by his father? At the time, all discipline is a cause not
for joy but for pain. Later, however, discipline brings forth the fruit of
righteousness.
The Word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory
to you, Lord.
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
----------------
----------------
Introduction
Like
pages off the calendar
Here it is the 4th
Sunday of August already and the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Most
of the kids are back to school. The fruits of the harvest will soon be gathered
into bins, to provide for the long winter ahead. Soon leaves of brown will come
tumbling down like pages off the calendar, and before we know it, we’ll be
thinking and talking about Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.
Only a
few people will be saved!
A conservative religious blogger complains about
preachers who go so far as to say that those who are sincere in whatever
beliefs they hold will be saved. The blogger says such preachers are in effect
saying that the door to heaven is very wide, while Jesus says that door is very
narrow. The blogger says he believes Jesus and not those preachers!
Another blogger
of the same ilk complains that people don’t want to be reminded of the `hard
sayings’ of the Bible. He complains that those who claim that the door to heaven is very narrow
are labeled as `narrow minded.’ “That’s OK,” the blogger writes. “We’re in good
company, for Jesus himself says that the door to heaven is very narrow. Like it or not only a few people will be saved! Whether or
not we think this makes God a failure, whether or not that makes us sad and
upsets us, isn't really important. If the Bible says it that settles it!”
`In good company’
Surprisingly,
those bloggers seem to be `in good
company.’ St. Paul quoting the prophet Isaiah writes: "Though the sons
of Israel be as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few
of them will be saved. For
quickly and decisively will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.” (Rm. 9:27; Is. 10: 22f) Pope
St. Gregory the Great (540-604) writes equally gloomily: “Behold
how many are gathered here for today's feast-day. We fill the church from wall
to wall. Yet who knows how few of us shall be numbered in that chosen company
of the elect?”
In the late 1870s Charles Taze Russell
(founder of the Jehovah Witnesses,) gloomily limited the number of those saved
to only 144,000. He gets that number from the Book of Revelation which speaks
of 144,000 people “who had the seal of God on their foreheads, and who washed
their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rv. 7:1-14) 144,000 human beings,
however, is but a drop of water in the whole sea of humanity. Strange to say,
that same Scripture from Revelation about 144,000 saved is used on the feast of
All Saints, Nov. 1, precisely to indicate the great number of the elect! That only goes to show that you can use
Scripture to prove anything you want to prove!
All will be saved!
Universalism is a religious movement which affirms that all will be saved. It is a reaction to
the gloomy view that only a few will be saved. In his autobiography, John
Murray, an
Englishman who migrated to the New World in 1770, recounts a conversation he had one day with a gloomy Calvinistic
preacher who claimed that only 10% of his parishioners were predestined to
everlasting life; the other 90% were predestined to never-ending misery.
Reacting to the gloomy Calvinistic preacher, Murray went to the opposite end
of the spectrum: in the place of an extremely severe and arbitrary God, Murray
chose an extremely merciful and forgiving One. To the question will only a few
be saved Murray answered, “Everyone
will be saved! Nobody will be damned!” That’s called `Universalism,’ and for
its proof Universalists also quote
Scripture.
“Then Jesus said, `Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of
this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all people to myself.’” (Jn. 12:31-32)
“For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the
dead has also come through a human being. For as all die in Adam, so all
will be made alive in Christ.” (I Cor. 15:22) Etc.
Many will
be saved!
Between the gloomy
bloggers’ contention that “Few will
be saved” and the very optimistic stance of Universalists’ that “All will be saved” there stands a
blessed middle ground: ”Many will be saved!” If one of Jesus’
sayings affirms rather explicitly that only a few will be saved (as today’s
gospel does), and if many of his other sayings clearly affirm just the opposite
(that many indeed will be saved) then Jesus’ many sayings should trump his one
difficult saying. Fr Andrew Greeley (recently deceased) wrote:
This is a chilling gospel. It sounds like Jesus is tired and in a bad
mood and probably fed up with people asking him such a silly question like
“Will only a few be saved on the last day?” If the people had heeded all that
Jesus had told them about his Father in heaven, they would have known that God
is nothing but forgiveness and love, and they wouldn’t have been asking such a
silly question like “Will only a few be saved on the last day?”
Jesus’ salvation parables
What, in fact, does Jesus tell the people about his Father in heaven? He
tells
them a salvation parable: A shepherd has ninety-nine
sheep and one of them goes astray, and the shepherd goes in search of the one
lost sheep. When he finally finds the poor bleating animal, he throws it over
his shoulders, and carries it home. Then he calls in his neighbors to celebrate
with him, because “There’s more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than
over ninety-nine respectable people who have no need of repentance.”(Lk. 15:1-7) That’s what Jesus
told the people about his Father in heaven, and it should have assured them
that many more than just a few will be saved.
Jesus tells the
people another salvation parable: One day a rebellious son grabs his
inheritance and goes off to a foreign land. There he squanders his money on
wine and women, and is finally reduced to hiring himself out to a farmer who
sends him off to feed his pigs. The prodigal son finally comes to his senses,
makes his way back to his father’s house, and is welcomed home with open arms.
(Lk. 15:11-32) That, again, is what
Jesus told the people about his Father in heaven, and it should have assured
them that many more than just a few will be saved.
“Few will
be saved!”
“Few will be
saved!” That seemingly gloomy saying of Jesus is trumped by his parables and by
other hope-filled sayings. “Few will be saved!” Do these words (which some
staunch bloggers and gloomy preachers like) reflect a very strange
psychological need in some people to limit the number of the saved to just a
very few? Do they feel that such a gloomy limitation will in some very strange
way merit for them a place among the few who will be saved?
“Few will be saved!” Is that a fear-tactic used by
preachers who want to make and keep people `religious’? At the end of the day,
the fear-tactic approach to salvation raises a profound question: Is it
possible to make and keep people religious, when the hell-factor has been taken
out of the equation, or at least greatly moved into the background? Which is
better: religion which thrives on fear, or religion which is inspired by love?
Conclusion
Using Scripture to prove anything you
want to prove
Scripture seems to
say that only a few will be saved.
Scripture also seems to say that many
will be saved. For some, Scripture even seems to say that everyone will be saved. At the end of the day, you can use
Scripture to prove anything you want to prove. Those, who have a strange psychological need that only a few be saved, will line up the Scripture
texts which they think prove their point.
On the other hand,
those who have a great personal need that all
or at least many will be saved
(because they’re well-aware of their own sinfulness) line up the Scripture
texts which they think prove their point. Deeply aware that they’re sinners,
they find great hope and consolation in Jesus’ salvation parables. They light
up when they hear Jesus’ parable about a prodigal son who is welcomed back home
by a loving father. They are given hope when they hear Jesus’ parable about a
stray sheep found by a worried shepherd, who casts the lost and found sheep
over his shoulders and happily carries it safely home.
[1] Proverbs 3, 11-12.
