August 22, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Normal, OK
Isaiah 66: 18-21 + Psalm 117 + Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13 + Luke 13: 22-30
Insiders and Outsiders. Who is in and who is out. Who belongs and who does not. This kind of thinking is part of our lives now just as it was when Luke wrote his Gospel exploring the relationship between Gentiles and Jews.
We have our gated communities, our neighborhood covenants, our private schools, our country clubs, and our health clubs. We have our homeland security, border patrol, birth certificates, passports, and government issued ID cards; all to determine who is in and who is out.
We cannot look at this gospel as though it is about the past or wonder what those people were thinking with that question, about who gets to heaven and who does not. There is something else going on here. It seems to me that there is some kind of disconnect in our thinking between how we behave and what we expect here what is to come when this life ends. My first suspicion is that not many people even think about what is to come. Thoughts and concerns about death, judgment, heaven and hell are out of style. So, we just skip merrily along in high denial about a future. Or we so drug ourselves on the image of a merciful and loving God (which we often fail to imitate) and so never think that the future might be like the present. There might actually be a gate; credentials to present in order to get in.
We live in political and social systems today that work like this: you can get whatever you want and whatever you needif you know the right people or have enough cash. Today’s Gospel says: NOT SO.
I believe that the question in this gospel was asked for the sake of reassurance.
“Here I am, Jesus. I am one of your followers listening to you today. Tell me I’m going to get into this Kingdom you are talking about.” The answer was not what that person wanted to hear. I would bet that the person who asked the question was gone the next day. Those following Jesus remind him: “You taught in our streets.” To them Jesus says: “And all you did was listen.” He says: “You never took my teachings to heart and changed anything in your lives. You think that a passing acquaintance with me is enough and being able to quote my words is all it takes.” NOT SO.
The question about how many will be saved is silly. It avoids the first question about whether I will be saved. Jesus rejects the first question and focuses on the question of the struggle. He says: “Forget about how many; put your mind and heart into the disciplined work of striving to enter.”
STRIVING is the issue. It is a life-long project, a discipline, a way of life that must influence everything we do, think, say, and believe. The way to the Kingdom of God is the way of self-discipline. That is the discipline the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of today. There is a set of virtues and values, a style of behavior that must be followed if salvation is to be realized.
They are difficult, and they require a great deal of effort. Patience, persistence, forgiveness, humility and a host of others that do not spring automatically from our personalities. They take practice, over and over, and sometimes painfully. If discipline is to have meaning and be redemptive, it must be self-discipline. The redemptive value of discipline must come from within. Pain and Suffering do nothing outside of us. Suffering is never explained by asking where it comes from or why does God allow this? That is all outside thin king. What we must ask is: “What do I do with this suffering?” At that point it is internalized and becomes a self-discipline that redeems and saves.
So, what do we do with this Gospel? Is coming to Mass today going to get us to heaven? No it isn’t. Is listening to the Word of God, accepting Jesus as my savior, going to confession, receiving communion going to get us through the narrow door? No, it isn’t.
Repentance because we have internalized the Word of God and with reflection and discipline, begun to question everything we do in terms of whether or not it will gain us eternal life will move us toward that narrow door. That is striving.
Breaking our lives like this broken bread and broken body of Christ in service
of someone else is striving toward the narrow door. Entering into the mystery of suffering by asking “What do I do with this” rather than whining and complaining is striving.
The free gift of salvation accepted is realized only by those who have seen it’s beauty and its value and begun to make themselves worthy of it by striving toward the goal, not by sitting around waiting, and then rushing forward at the last minute.