August 24, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle in Naples, FL
Isaiah 66: 18-21 + Psalm 117 + Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13 + Luke 13: 22-30
There are some folks who are quick to say that they are saved. You may know some of them. They are also heard to say that if you just accept Jesus as your personal savior, you’re saved. Many of them are comfortable saying: “When we all get to heaven” as if salvation is all and only about the afterlife. These words of Jesus spoken to all of us should call that thinking into question. In fact, those who feel really sure and confident that they are saved have skipped Luke 13.
A question begins this pause on the journey to Jerusalem, and Jesus makes fun of it. Those standing around at the time would have laughed at his answer. He makes fun of it because it’s the wrong question. That man should have asked: “How do you get to be saved.” To that question, Jesus responds with three points:
1) it’s not easy.
2) Don’t waste time, seize the moment.
3) No one should be too sure about salvation.
There has been some bad thinking about this in the past and some of it lingers today. The idea that Baptism or religious heritage (like being Catholic) is a sure ticket. The other is the delusion that we can earn salvation by some kind of spiritual exercise alone. One thing is certain from what Jesus has to say today: no one is just going to slide on in.
He makes it clear that the time will come when the door is shut and it will be too late. No excuse will be accepted, and it makes no difference how well you think you know Jesus or how much you know about him. Being familiar with God means nothing. The basis of a relationship with our God as Jesus has revealed him is not how well we claim to know God, but how well God knows us. The more we think, speak, and act like his Son, the more God may recognize us as his own.
Those of us who are here, who are faithful in prayer, and practice our faith must be very careful lest we begin to think of ourselves as insiders. What Jesus makes clear is that when we stand at the door we may be quite surprised to discover who got there first. We need to begin to think about what we are saved from and what we are saved for. When we ask that second part, we begin to realize that salvation is a long and difficult journey filled with opportunities. It is hard work. Salvation is the work of the Kingdom, creating a new reality in which we all become friends.
Binding the spiritual, physical, and emotional wounds of individuals and communities is the role of God’s people. Salvation is not just a spiritual idea or experience. It is a real-life experience that happens in the real world everywhere and every day. There is here a call for inclusivity. There can be no insiders or outsiders in God’s eyes. Think of it this way and reflect upon the meaning and consequence of the language being used these days. When someone is called and “illegal alien” they are describing someone as being without a human core. It’s as though they are not human. We talk of “aliens” from other galaxies who are not human. We imply some detachment from the human race, and so they don’t have to treated like humans. When lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons are denied the right to equal employment or persons with disabilities are not provided access we are building walls of alienation. When poor people, older adults, women and children have no opportunity to live as community residents with dignity we violate the call of Jesus for inclusivity. Those may well be the very people looking at us from the inside as the door gets closed. We need to think about this wondering if they will welcome us in because the salvation Jesus proclaims is going to turn things upside down.
Remember the words from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. The Beatitudes continue to reveal the great reversal that may catch us all by surprise. In the salvation of God, no one has more than they need until all have enough.