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Gospel Reading for October 30, 2024 – Luke 13: 22-30
AUTOMATICALLY
Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
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Being baptized a Christian is not an assurance that we will AUTOMATICALLY be saved. If indeed there is such an assurance, it is by entering the narrow gate, which is said to be difficult to enter. When we come to think of it, it should not be difficult to enter a narrow gate unless we are too big (so full of ourselves literally and figuratively, and not caring about others, especially those in need). Jesus more or less, described this in Mark 10: 25: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Even if we come from a family who’s had generations upon generations of being Christians, the final verdict will depend on how much we have practiced the teachings of Jesus in our lives. There may be those of us who have been baptized only lately, or whose families have recently become Christians, but it doesn’t mean that those of us who have been Christians for a long time have an edge over them. “. . . some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” And, this is because to be a Christian is to follow the teachings of Christ.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6: 68-69)
