Make Every Effort to Enter through the Narrow Door

Luke 13:22-30

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Make Every Effort to Enter through the Narrow Door

Back in the Spring a restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand went viral for offering a controversial discount based on restauranteurs’ ability to squeeze through progressively narrower bars. The thinner you were, the bigger the discount. I know better than to ask how much of a discount you would have gotten, but how many of you would have even tried, or would you have been too embarrassed?

Breakfast World was widely panned for its insensitivity, for encouraging eating disorders, for its exclusivity and favouritism. There were others, though, who praised them for rewarding healthy eating habits and motivating people to want to work out and be fit. I’m not sure whether Breakfast World still has its (in)famous discount policy, because in the end it just doesn’t matter. It’s all the way in Thailand for one, and it’s not as if that’s the policy at every restaurant. If you don’t like it, you have other options.

But what if God adopted a similar policy for heaven? Only, instead of progressive discounts on products, it determined whether you could enter heaven at all. In other words, it would be a “you must be this thin to enter” rule. How many people do you think could squeeze through? Or, more importantly, do you think you could?

That’s the scenario that Jesus paints in our Gospel this morning. A random, unnamed “someone” asked Jesus a question: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus answered, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many will try to enter and will not be able to.”[1]

That is not exactly good news. The hard truth about heaven is that “Many will try, but few will be able.”

There are other times in Jesus’ life when he says something similar. And maybe when you hear those things your mind turns to the many religions that are out there claiming to have the answers. But that’s not Jesus’ point here. When Jesus says that many will try, he’s not talking about those people out there; he’s talking about people who look like you, i.e. people who, by every outward indication, are trying all the right things, but who, at the end of the day, are trying in all the wrong ways. He gives us an example:

“Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’”[2]

These are people who will be surprised to be denied. Did you catch why? “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” These are people who were known and seen associating with Jesus.

How many of you would be surprised to hear Jesus say the same thing? “‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ How many of you would respond the same way?  ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’”[3]

Is your confidence in your salvation based on what you do? Do you feel good about your chances about getting into heaven because of how long you’ve been a member of this congregation, or one like it? Would you be shocked and offended if God didn’t factor your volunteer hours or financial contributions to ministry into his final judgment? Are you leaning on your family history and pedigree, e.g. I was baptized 50 years ago; I was confirmed 35 years ago; my grandparents built this church. Don’t you know who I am?

It’s so easy to slip into entitlement mode. It’s so natural to think of our relationship with God as transactional, e.g. “Surely he’ll recognize me and all the service I offered him in life.” But the truth is that’s thinly veiled self-righteousness. That’s sinful pride puffing us up to the point that we won’t fit through the narrow door. He doesn’t offer us a carryon bag to lug all our trophies and accolades into heaven with us.

Instead, he demands that we let it all go, and despair of ourselves entirely – to put no confidence in who we are or what we’ve done. Otherwise, while we stand outside and negotiate with God, while we flaunt our resume of good works to him, he’ll close the door and we’ll be the ones left standing outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth – where there will be eternal sorrow over the eternal separation between us and God. And once that door is closed, it will not reopen.

The hard truth about heaven is that there are many you would think would get in who will be left outside. The hard truth about heaven is that it’ll hard for you to get in, and there’s nothing you can do to widen those goalposts. There’s nothing you can do to force your way inside. In fact, the harder you try, the harder it gets.

But that’s also the good news about heaven – the door is still open. And even better? The news that Jesus has made every effort to ensure that you can walk through. We see it from the first words of our passage today:

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.[4]

It’s not as clear in English as it is in Greek, but when Luke says that when Jesus went through the towns and villages, he really means that Jesus went throughout the towns and villages. He was making the rounds. He was making as many stops as he could on his way to Jerusalem. The towns and villages were not too insignificant for him. He wasn’t only going to focus on the major urban centres where he could build up a bigger base for himself. He cared about all the people along the way, and he made every effort he could to reach as many of them as he could.

And what did he do when he got there? Luke tells us that he was teaching. Jesus wasn’t rehearsing the same old stump speech. He wasn’t chasing popularity. He wasn’t shaking hands and kissing babies. He was pursuing souls. He wanted them to know the very real dangers of putting your confidence of entering heaven in yourself. More than that, he wanted them to know what he was doing for them so that they could have a confidence that could not be taken away from them.

It’s a small comment but it makes a big difference: …as he made his way to Jerusalem. Every step that Jesus took took him closer to the cross, i.e. to the place where he would lay down his life as the sacrifice for your sin. Not only to pay the penalty for your faults and failures, but to present to his heavenly Father a reason to let you into his heavenly home. Jesus led a perfect life. He didn’t depend on his relationship with the Father or the Spirit. He didn’t lean on his pedigree or family history. He did everything right from start to finish. And when he did and then died for you, he cracked open the door to heaven just wide enough so that everyone who believed in him would just be able to fit through. There’d be no room for negotiation or ego, only humility and faith. And as a result people from east and west and north and south will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.[5]

A hard truth about heaven is that there will be many you would think would get in who will be left outside. A happy truth about heaven is that there will be many you would never imagine could make it who will, including you. Not by your own power, not by your own strength – those won’t get you anywhere – but by the grace of our God and the sacrifice of his Son.

Jesus made every effort to ensure that you can walk through the narrow door, including proclaiming these words to you today, through the preserved pen of the Gospel writer, through the faltering lips of a faulty preacher. Now he says to you, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.”[6]

And make no mistake about it, it will require effort. In fact, the Greek word for make every effort is the same as our English word agonize, i.e. agonize to enter through the narrow door. It’ll be a struggle, but not a struggle to stack good days or good works. It’s actually kind of the opposite. The struggle is to let go of our sinful pride, to let go of all the reasons we think God should let us into heaven.

Instead cling only to the cross of Jesus. Take your sins to him. Confess them and your unworthiness of him. But receive from him the gracious promise of his forgiving love. Receive from him the relief of all your sinful baggage and its accompanying guilt and shame. Receive from the joy of knowing that you don’t have to build your spiritual resume to enter heaven. You just have to be known by him.

And you are. You are known by Jesus. Not because you’re a member of the congregation. Not because you make a positive impact on the community. But because you are recipients of his Means of Grace. You’re here right now listening to his Word. You saw it earlier today in the sacrament of Baptism, how God puts his name on us and adopts us as his own dear children. He gives us his body and blood to eat and drink in the Sacrament of the Altar.

You are known by Jesus and you will be welcomed into his heavenly home. Not because you are the right size. Not because you can contort your body or resume into the right shape. But because you have faith in the salvation he earned for you. And you don’t need anything else.

So, are only a few going to be saved? It’s the wrong question. Are you going to be saved? By God’s grace the answer is yes. Now live in that grace. Walk through the narrow door. Listen to Jesus’ teaching and learn from it, so that when it’s time for you to approach the gates of heaven he will welcome you as someone he’s known forever and will know forever because of his love. Amen.

[1] Luke 13:23,24

[2] Luke 13:25,26

[3] Luke 13:25,26

[4] Luke 13:22

[5] Luke 13:29

[6] Luke 13:24

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Welcome Back!

Luke 15:1-7

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Welcome Back!

“Welcome back!” Sometimes when you hear those words, they make all the sense in the world. For goodness sakes, summer break just ended. School started last week. You could almost set your clock to how many teachers were going to say, “Welcome back!” to their students. Sometimes it just makes all the sense in the world.

Other times, though, those words catch you off guard. Maybe it’ll happen sometime next week when the excitement of syllabus day and seeing your friends again turns into the drudgery of daily classwork. You find yourself daydreaming until your teacher calls your name. “Welcome back,” they might say. You hadn’t gone anywhere, but your thoughts were a million miles away. Or maybe there’s this interaction that you’ve been dreading. The last time you talked to this person it didn’t end well. You’re not sure how you’ll be received. But when you see them, they have a big smile on their face, and you’re relieved to hear those two glorious words: “Welcome back.”

Today is “Back to Church Sunday” here at St. Peter. You might have heard those words as you walked in the door, from people who love you and care about you and missed you or are just glad to get to know you. Better yet, we get to hear those words from our Saviour in a way that speaks directly to our hearts and fills them with a joy we can’t help but share.

That’s one of the major, recurring themes of Jesus’ parable, after all – joy. What does he do when he finds his lost sheep? He joyfully puts it on his shoulders. What does he do when he gets home? He calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” It’s all about joy.

But let me ask you this, if you were that shepherd and one of your hundred sheep wandered away, and you had to leave the 99 out in the open country just to go chase after the 1, what is the emotion you’d feel when you found it? Would it be joy? Or would it be something else?

You’ve probably been in that situation. You realize your dog got out of the yard while you’re making dinner. You have to leave it in the oven and risk it burning to a crisp just to chase after that lousy mutt. How are you going to greet that dog when you finally grab hold of its collar? Your employee goes rogue. You can’t spend time with your good employees doing the good work you want to. You have to go chase down the bad one and do damage control instead. What’s going through your mind as you head to their workstation? Your son or daughter does the exact thing you told them repeatedly not to do and now they’re in trouble, and you have to drop what you’re doing again to bail them out of an entirely avoidable situation. How hard is it going to be not to say, “What did I tell you?”

Which is what makes what Jesus says here so strange. What does the shepherd do when he finds his lost sheep – the one that made his life and the lives of the other 99 so much harder? He joyfully puts it on his shoulders. What does that shepherd do when he gets home? He calls his friends and neighbours and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” He throws a party. That’s ridiculous! Who would do that?

But as strange as those things are, I don’t think they’re the strangest thing Jesus says. There are two words that just blow my mind. Can you guess what they are? “Doesn’t he…?”

To introduce this parable, Jesus poses a question: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he… leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4)

The way Jesus phrases this question assumes that the answer is obviously affirmative, i.e. “Of course, the shepherd would leave the 99 and go after the one! Wouldn’t you?” Would you? What’s one out of a hundred? It’s a penny – a monetary value so small we don’t even have that denomination in circulation anymore; we don’t use pennies because they’re so insignificant. It’s a decimal point, a rounding error. If you are rich enough to have 100 sheep, one is more than an acceptable loss.

But not to Jesus. To him the choice is obvious. Of course he’d drop everything to chase after the one, to go rescue you, because that’s who you are. You are the 1%. You are the lost sheep.

Now, I would imagine that more than one of us here already feels that way. Whether it’s a struggle with alcohol or pornography, whether it’s been years since you’ve darkened the doorsteps of a church, whether you’ve done legitimately despicable things in your life – you have a public record that would make your mother blush – whatever it is, that title of lost sheep just fits like a glove.

For others of us, though, “lost sheep” is the last thing we’d call ourselves. We’re here, after all, aren’t we? We’re where we’re supposed to be, we’re doing the kinds of things we’re supposed to be doing, but some days it’s a classic case of that second week of school syndrome. You may be where you’re supposed to be, but your mind and your heart are a million miles away, and you don’t realize how long you’ve been spiritually sleepwalking through life until the Lord calls your name, until you get that wakeup call. Something bad happens – or even just threatens to happen – and you get angry. You lash out at people who haven’t even done anything bad to you. Something bad happens – or even just threatens to happen – and you get depressed. You withdraw. You feel worthless and helpless and hopeless. Those are symptoms of spiritual sleepwalking. Those are signs that you’re straying from your shepherd.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which sheep you are – the one that is obviously lost or the one that is obliviously lost. Lost is lost. Sheep aren’t exactly known for their homing mechanisms. They are also notoriously hopelessly defenseless. There’s not much a lost sheep can do to protect itself. And it’s only a matter of time until the wolf comes and turns a lost sheep into a dead sheep. That’s the kind of spiritual danger each of us is in every time we stray – obviously or obliviously – away from our shepherd. That’s also what inspires our Shepherd to chase after us.

Look at the love that shepherd has for his lost sheep. That’s the kind of love Jesus has for you – the kind of love that is willing to drop everything to chase after you. Jesus didn’t leave you to your own devices. He didn’t consider you an acceptable loss. He left the green pastures of heaven and descended into this world of danger and death to redeem you. He put his life on the line and lost it on the cross to forgive you your sinful waywardness and to lead you to life everlasting.

And this wasn’t just something that Jesus did 2,000 years ago. It’s something he continues to do for you. He continues to chase after you. He brought you here, so that you could be like the tax collectors and sinners from Luke 15 who were there to gather around Jesus to listen to him. Someday I’d like to literally ask you this, but think about all the different reasons each of us is here today. For some of you it’s a habit, but one, I pray, that becomes personal when you see how personal God’s love for you in Christ is. Some of you are here because God put that person in your life to inspire you or invite you to worship your God and Saviour. Some of you are here because God gave you a wakeup call – a divorce, a death in the family, a tragedy that’s causing you to ask all the right questions so that you can find your answer in Jesus, in a shepherd who considers it the obvious choice to leave the 99 and pursue you personally.

And what does he do when he finds you? What does God do when he gets you here – either to this place and this worship service, or to this point in your life that you’re willing to listen to him? Does he wag his finger at you? Does he look at you with disappointment in his eyes? Does he lecture you into submission? No. He joyfully lifts you up in his arms and brings you home. And then he shares his joy in finding his lost sheep with all the residents of heaven.

That’s Jesus’ whole point with this parable. In the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7)

Jesus was not pleased with the Pharisees’ self-righteousness, in the same way that God is not pleased when we try to pretend that we don’t need rescue. But when we repent, God rejoices and the angels with him. When we admit our sinfulness and depend on his grace, heaven erupts in celebration. You were lost, but now you are found. You were sinful, but now you are forgiven. And through it all, every step of the way, you were and are the recipient of God’s relentless, personal, passionate love.

So, welcome back. Sure, welcome back to church after a busy summer. Welcome back to God’s house after however long it’s been since you’ve been here last. But above all, welcome back to God’s forgiving love all you sheep who were lost but now are found, all you sinners saved by God’s grace. You are exactly the kind of people Jesus loves and pursues and welcomes. Continue to listen to him. Amen.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24,25)

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