Sermon for August 22

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Aug. 22, 2010
Luke 13:22-30
“Lord, will those who are to be saved be few?”

In the name of Jesus, amen. As Jesus was making his way to the cross, as he was journeying to Jerusalem, as he was sauntering towards the divine sacrifice, someone asked him what was going on. “Lord, will those who are to be saved be few?”

And our Lord Jesus Christ lovingly looked at the questioner and said, “What’s it to you?” Salvation is God's business. Jesus didn't really say that, but he did say that the people who are to be saved might not be the people you think it might be.

The questioner came to Jesus and asked about the number of those who would be saved. Will it be few? Yes.

Yes, it will be few who enter through the narrow door. Many will seek to enter but they will not be able. How many of those many do we know? How many of those many are in our family, are in the cubicle next to us? The answer to those sad questions is probably more than we care to admit. We shrink from the honesty that tells us that many people pretend when it comes to their relationship with God and the salvation that God holds out for them.

We have no reason to believe that Jesus was not speaking with love when he said “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Jesus wants us to enter our Father’s house. And Jesus has provided the way, informing us in John’s gospel that Jesus is the gate, that Jesus is the way.

This striving, this struggle, it is something that the people of God engage in repeatedly, perhaps even perpetually. This striving is the struggle of repentance. It is the fight against our flesh. It is the wrestling with our sinful human nature. Strive to repent. Strive to be open to the Word of God. Repentance is the work of God after all. It is God working in our heart. It is God strengthening us to admit that there is no value in us apart from God. Strive to fully own up to your sins of thought, word, and deed. Strive to stand in the shadow of the cross with the knowledge that it was your sin, my sin, that put Jesus there. Strive to enter through the narrow door.

We repent, every Sunday, every day, to our children, to our spouse, to our employer, to our coworkers. We admit all the sin that binds and hinders. And we find the forgiveness of those sins. We find God’s open arms, the Father’s loving embrace, the Father’s desire to wipe away our tears, His desire to welcome us to the feast.

The master will rise and he’ll shut the door. That is a true statement. The door to heaven will not be open forever. When the sovereign Lord determines, the door will be shut. People will be outside, banging on the door, saying, begging, pleading, “Lord, open to us.” The master of the house will then honestly say, “No. I do not know who you are nor do I know where you have come from.”

“But we ate in your presence. You taught in our streets.”

“Fine. Did you listen?”

“Not really. Or at least not that closely.”

Mere acquaintance with Jesus the Lord is not what the Lord is looking for. You may know the facts, that Jesus is God’s Son, that Jesus died and rose, but until you know that Jesus did it for you, to help you, comfort you, to save you, then knowing the facts is really not much knowledge at all.

That’s sad. A lot of the time the things we know get in the way. We value this knowledge and build it up into something it is not. What we know gets in the way of the One who knows us and the One we are invited to know. Yes, the triune God invites us to know him. We are invited to know the Lord as the narrow door, to know the Lord as Redeemer, as Shepherd, as the Lamb that was slain who now lives forevermore. We are invited to learn of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We are invited to know God as our strength, as our energy, as our rest.

As we learn of this God we are repeatedly astounded at all there is know and experience. We do realize that the beauty of God is found in the ‘for you’ aspect.

For your sake you were washed, cleansed, baptized. For your sake, your forgiveness, life, and salvation, you receive the body and blood of Christ that was broken and shed. Strengthened by God’s baptismal grace, fortified by the grace and mercy of the communion meal, we are transformed and strengthened for lives of discipleship.

We are strengthened to recognize that some people have given God the stiff arm. Why do I need to repent when I am not a sinner? I don’t cheat. I don’t steal. I don’t do anything that is wrong. And that is what some people believe. Why won’t God let me in to heaven? I’m a nice guy. I’m kind to kittens and puppies. I’m generous and respectful. I’m a moral person. And all of that is very nice. But when you ask if they have repented of their sins and embraced the free gift of salvation in Jesus, they bristle, they stiffen, and they walk away. The gnash their teeth at the notion that they are sinners. In Matthew’s gospel we find Christ talking about the sheep and the goats. It is the goats who tell Jesus that if they had seen the Lord hungry, naked, sick, or in prison, then by God, we’d have done something. They never acknowledged all the hungry and sick and naked who were living right next door to them.

People will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, they will enter through the narrow gate and they will recline at the table of the Lord.

How many months ago did I mention that when you eat with someone, you are accepting them? An overloaded banqueting table is prepared by our Lord, and people from all nations are brought in to the feast. How joyous is it to recline at the table of the Lord, be served by the Lord, and bask in His presence? It is joy upon joy, glory upon glory.

Strive to enter through the narrow door, huh? Lord, will those who are saved be few? We enter through the door that is our savior Jesus. Called through the Gospel by the Holy Spirit, gathered together to confess our sins and lift up our Redeemer, strengthened to claim the free forgiveness of God and live that forgiveness, we enter through the narrow door. We acknowledge that there are people, neighbors even, who work in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that the salvation of our souls is God’s work.

Will those who are saved be few? Yes, if salvation is from a human perspective, if salvation is based on my goodness and your merit. But Christ is the narrow door through which we enter God’s kingdom. And Christ is our strength, Christ is our merit, Christ is our hope, and Christ is our Redeemer. SDG