“The Door to Heaven is Narrow!”

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!”

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2013,

Isaiah 66:18-21     Hebrews 12:5-7; 11    Luke 13:22-30 

2^nd 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.

 

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?” Jesus replied, “The door to heaven is narrow, so work hard to get in. For I tell you when the head of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. Then you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will reply, ‘I do not know you!’ And you will answer, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know you!’ What great wailing and gnashing of teeth there will be when you will see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, while you stand outside. 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. Then those who are now last will be first, and those who are now first will be last.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Like pages off the calendar

Here it is the 4^th Sunday of August already and the 21^st 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. 

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[1] Proverbs 3, 11-12.

He Gathered God's Scattered Children

Papa Giovanni – Il Papa Buono
He Gathered God’s Scattered Children

August 21, 2011, 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you: “You are Peter, the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

The Gospel of the Lord
Thanks be to God
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Introduction
Packers instead of politicians

Here it is the middle of August – over half of the new year is old! The kids go back to school. Soon “the leaves of brown come tumbling down” in Wisconsin. And here in Texas, after three months of unrelenting 100 degree heat, the temperatures will start going south. Best of all, football season 2011-2012 will soon be here. And life will again be worth living! On Thursday, September 8, the 92nd regular season of the NFL begins as the Green Bay Packers (champions of Super Bowl XLV) host the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI, in the new season’s kickoff game. After each team has played 16 games the play-offs start, and then comes the event which crowns the whole season: Super Bowl XLVI on February 5, 2012. Life, indeed, is worth living!

So it is going to be football for 5 straight months. And the return of football season will be a welcomed relief and distraction from the terrible ordeal which politicians are putting the nation through, as they choose to put the work of their party before the people. They almost brought the nation to the brink of economic disaster. Someone has said that compromise is the art of knowing how to divide the cake in such a way that everyone believes he’s getting the biggest piece. That art has been lost in Washington today.

Boehner and Barack at a bar after six

Tip O’Neil was a well-beloved Democratic Speaker in the House when Ronald Reagan was president. The two of them would have a drink together on a special occasion, while searching for bridges of compromise between their differences. It was said of them: “They were friends after six pm.” What a welcome relief it would be, if that were the tone in Washington today! What a great blessing it would be, if the present speaker of the House John Boehner and President Barack Obama would sit down together at some bar after six! What walls could start crumbling! What wheels of compromise could be set in motion. As it is now, Republics go home to drink, and Democrats go home to drink. What could happen, if they also sat down at times, and drank with each other?

The art of compromise these days has disappeared in Washington. As we head now into the new football season, what a relief it will be to turn our attention away from politicians and the bad political atmosphere through which they’ve just put us. What a relief it will be to turn our attention, momentarily at least, to football - that great all-American game which Americans always use to momentarily forget their problems.

The great St. Peter’s Basilica

The world’s most famous tourist attraction is St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The basilica covers an area of 5.7 acres and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. The interior is a splendiferous splash of every conceivable kind of marble from the great Italian quarries. Way up front in the basilica near the main altar is an ancient fierce-looking statue of St. Peter giving a blessing with his right hand and holding the keys to the kingdom of heaven in his left. The toes of his protruding right foot have been literally worn smooth by the touches and kisses of millions of pilgrims and tourists down through the centuries. Way up in the great circular dome of St. Peter’s (which dominates Rome’s skyline) is the Latin inscription in gold mosaic letters 6.5 ft tall: YOU ARE PETER, AND ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH. TO YOU I WILL GIVE THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. (Mt 16:18-19)

The clear-cut interpretation of Catholics

The Roman Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:18-19 is clear-cut. Jesus is saying to Simon bar Jonah:

I give you Simon a new name because I am going to give you a new job. I now call you Peter, Rock, because on you, as on a solid rock-foundation, I am going to build my Church. And when I take leave and ascend to my Father, you, Peter, are to be my vicar.

Out of that interpretation rose the magnificent basilica of St. Peter’s, one of the seven great wonders of the world. Out of that interpretation was sculptured the fierce statue of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, with blessing in one hand, a key in the other and a protruding foot worn smooth by the kisses and touches of the faithful down through the centuries
.

Many good Christians don’t agree with it.

 Many good Christians don’t agree with that clear-cut Roman Catholic interpretation which gives Peter such an exalted position. It doesn’t make sense, they say. They quote various Scriptures which don’t paint a good picture of Peter. For example, when he is walking on the water toward the Lord and starts to sink, Jesus scolds him for his lack of faith. (Mt 14:28–31) When Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s slave, Jesus scolds him again saying, “Put your sword back in its place. Don’t you understand that I have to drink the cup which the Father has given me?”(Jn 18:11) Worst of all, the four canonical gospels relate that at the Last Supper Jesus foretells that Peter would deny ever knowing Him. Peter goes out of the upper room and denies Jesus not once but three times. (Mt 26:69-75) Many good Christians, therefore, find it hard to believe that Jesus would build His Church on such a man.

Other interpretations

There are other interpretations besides the clear-cut interpretation of Roman Catholics. The early Church Fathers were not unanimous in their understanding of the “Thou art Peter” Scripture. Launoy, a Roman Catholic scholar of the 17th century, compiled a list of varying interpretations of the Petrine text in the early Church. 17 Fathers believed the Rock was Peter. 44 believed the Rock was the faith of Peter who had just confessed Jesus as the Messiah. 16 said the Rock was Christ. St. Augustine initially thought the Rock was Peter, but he later changed his mind, saying that each one should make up his own mind. Swiss German theologian Fr. Hans Kung maintains that in the early centuries no one viewed Matthew 16:18-19 as justifying today’s papacy.

An expansive take on the Petrine Office 

Like the 17 Church Fathers Fr. John Hunwicke, an Anglican priest and theologian, believes that the Rock is Peter and that the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is Peter’s successor. Does that mean he wants to become a Roman Catholic? Not at all! Both he and his Anglican brethren harbor too much affection for their Anglican tradition to do that. Though he doesn’t want to become a Roman Catholic, he does want to be an Anglican in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. But he wants to be in full communion with a Pope whose job-description is not to rule over the whole Church but to serve its universal communion. By that Fr. Hunwicke means that the job-description of the Bishop of Rome should be not to lord it over the universal Church but to serve it by protecting and promoting its universal communion – its union between Orthodox, Anglicans and Roman Catholics. That, indeed, is an expansive take on the Petrine office.

An even more expansive take on the Petrine office

Evangelist John writes that the high priest prophesied that Jesus would, "die for the Jewish people, and not only for them, but also to gather together all God’s scattered children.” (Jn 11:52) Can we push the envelope further and say that the Bishop of Rome’s job-description is similar to that of Jesus: to gather together all God’s scattered children? Can we say his job-description is to foster communion not just between Orthodox, Anglicans and Roman Catholics but also between all God’s scattered children: Lutherans, Presbyterians, as well as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus etc. That, indeed, would be an even more expansive take on the Petrine office.

The Church's official position

The Church’s official position does not perceive the Petrine office so magnanimously. In 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a 36-page document entitled Dominus Iesus (Jesus the Lord). It warned Catholics not to water down the very extraordinary uniqueness of Jesus when dealing with Buddhism and Hinduism. In dialoguing with non-Catholic Christian churches, the document also warned us not to water down the extraordinary uniqueness of the Catholic Church.

The document, heavy with ponderous theology, was disheartening for ecumenists who for thirty years were laboriously trying to gather together God’s scattered children; the document instead seemed to be scattering God’s children. At times it even seemed arrogant and condescending in such remarks as, “Though non-Catholic churches suffer from defects, they by no means have been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.”

An unofficial position

When Ratzinger assumed the Petrine office as Pope Benedict XVI he approved a document which restated the key sections of Dominus Iesus. The Rev. Sara MacVane of the Anglican Center in Rome said there was nothing new in the new document, and she didn’t know what motivated it. She pointed out, however, that there is the `official’ position, and then there’s an `unofficial’ position, which is infused with a spirit of fellowship and with a desire to gather together all God’s scattered children. That `unofficial’ position even worships with others. That’s certainly true, she said, between Anglicans and Catholics, and also between other groups and Catholics.

A triumphant Catholic and a disappointed one

On the other hand, a very disappointed Catholic gentleman responding to the same Vatican document writes, “As an American Catholic, I want to apologize to my non-Catholic friends and acquaintances for the arrogance of my Church toward them.”

Pope John Paul II -- gathering God’s scattered children

In response to the apocalyptic event of 9/11, 2001, Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) invited all God’s scattered children to summit with him for Peace on Earth at Assisi, the birthday place of St. Francis. On January 24, 2002 they came from the four corners of the earth: Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons, Mennonites together with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Shintoists and followers of African tribal religions. That was the third time John Paul had gathered together such a stellar assembly of all God’s scattered children.

Pope John XXIII -- gathering God’s scattered children

In an even more stellar style Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) gathered all God’s scattered children. In April of 1963 he issued his encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth.) It is one of the most famous of 20th century encyclicals. He died from cancer two months after its completion, and it was John’s last love letter to the Universal Church and to the world. John opened his farewell encyclical in the usual way that encyclicals always open:

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and all other Local Ordinaries who are at Peace and in Communion with the Apostolic See, and to the Clergy and Faithful of the entire Catholic World…

But then Good Pope John added to the typical encyclical addressee a very special stroke of his own: “and to all Men of Good Will.” That surprising addition reflected John’s great all-embracing spirit: he wanted his last love letter to speak not only to the family of the Church but also to the family of the whole human race.

Conclusion
Il Papa Buono

John did such a wonderful job of gathering together all God’s scattered children that Italians affectionately called him Il Papa Buono – The Good Pope. And when on 3 June 1963 he lay dying, the whole world was kneeling at his bedside. (We, who were tuned into the news that day, know that this is no exaggeration.) John did such a wonderful job of gathering together all God’s scattered children that he is commemorated on June 3 (his death anniversary day) even by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on June 4 by the Anglican Church of Canada.

I am saddened by my Church when it scatters God’s children. But I am very proud of her when, like Jesus, she gathers them together. I am very proud of her when the Rock upon which she is built is a man like Il Papa Buono.

A triumphant Catholic gentlemen responding to Dominus Iesus said, “The ultimate goal of dialogue among the various Christian religions is to eventually bring these people back into the Catholic Church. Three cheers to the Pope for having the courage to say it.” Another triumphant Catholic sang the same song: “With Dominus Iesus the cafeteria now is closed! No more picking and choosing. All religions are not created equal. Period!”