Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
8/20/10
Luke 13:22-30
Bror Erickson



[22] He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. [23] And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, [24] "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. [25] When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' [26] Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' [27] But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' [28] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. [29] And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. [30] And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." Luke 13:22-30 (ESV)


Some are last who would be first, and some are first who would be last.
Fearful words spoken to the man who assumes he is saved, and is horrified to hear that so few will be saved.
"Lord will those who are saved be few?" the man asks. Jesus says don’t worry about how many are to be saved, worry about yourself. Struggle to get in through the narrow door. And then he talks about what will happen to those who don’t enter in through that narrow door. He indicates that there will be many Israelites excluded, because they rejected the narrow door.
The narrow door is Jesus Christ. He is the door as he himself says.
[9] I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9 (ESV)

He is the way and the truth and the life, apart from whom no one enters the kingdom. This man assumes he is saved, he is an Israelite and a good person. Jesus says I do not know where you come from. That is the answer on the last day to people who think they enter the kingdom of God and eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the Blessed, for such reasons as nationality or ethnicity, whether they be Jew or gentile, or being a good person.
I don’t think any of us think we get into heaven because of our nationality. I will just say that despite John Hagee, and the rest of the millennialists, neither does anyone else including modern day Jews. No one gets into the kingdom without faith in Jesus Christ, without being known by his grace, without being given the gift of faith.
Ours is perhaps a more common problem. We think we are good. We think we get in for being good.
In my short life, I have had to give up on that notion. Oh it doesn’t stop me from trying to be good, trying to be nice to people. But it surprises me how many fall victim to this common myth that we are good and deserve to go to heaven. This myth can only be founded on ignorance, or the belief that God judges on a bell curve, and even then there is a certain amount of ignorance concerning your own sin and the sin of your neighbors that is used to buoy this myth.
But ignorance does wonders. Like the lady I was talking to not long ago who thought if God wiped out her sin and gave her a clean slate she could follow his commandments for the rest of the day. Then I asked her if she could name the Ten Commandments to which I received a “no.”
People don’t get into heaven for being ignorant either.
It is a narrow door. It is a door that is contrary to every thing we believe we know. It is a door that says I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me. No one enters the kingdom without Jesus, without being forgiven by his blood, without being incorporated into his body, without being known by him.
“I don’t know where you come from” the master says. The ate and drank in his presence, listened to his sermons in the streets, and yet he says “I don’t know where you come from.” He directs this at the Pharisees who think Jesus their equal, perhaps even a little inferior to them, and so reject him. He says this to all who hear him and reject him thinking him nothing more than perhaps a good teacher of morality and ethics, but not someone who needs to be taken seriously. I mean he claimed to be God, who could take that seriously?
He says that to each and every one of us who would reject his forgiveness thinking we are fine without it. He says that to us who think it preposterous that God would save so few, that a loving God would judge us for our sin. What?
But the truth is it will not be few who are saved, for God promises Abraham that his offspring will be like the sands of the seashore, like the stars of heaven, here he says that people will come from the east and the west, the north and the south. No salvation will not be limited to those who are born of Abraham according to the flesh, but all who are born of Abraham according to faith, born of water and spirit to share his faith and recline at the table to the kingdom in the forgiveness of sins. Who believe the promises of Christ despite all their earthly notions. Who hear Christ say, as he says to you now, your sins are forgiven, I died for you, I am the door come through me, eat and drink, feast on forgiveness, feast in forgiveness, take eat this is my body, take drink this is my blood, my blood I shed for you to atone for your sins.
For Christ desires that all would be saved and come to a knowledge of truth, and in a single drop of his blood is enough forgiveness to atone for the sins of the entire world, so here you find life. Take eat, take drink, your sins are forgiven.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.