Isaiah 66:18-21

When the Jews returned from exile in Babylon they found their beloved Jerusalem in shambles. In today's passage from the book of Isaiah, a prophet looks ahead to better days when people from foreign lands will flock to Jerusalem as the city where God dwells.

Hebrews 12:5-13:7

The letter to the Hebrews is written to people who have become dispirited and are losing faith. The author quotes a text from the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and finds in it encouraging words.

Luke 13:22-30

Bishop Untener's Homily

This sounds like a harsh Gospel. But it really isn't harsh. Let's take a closer look at it.

Jesus doesn't get into the question of what percentage of people will be saved. Instead he talks about the effort it takes to be saved. I suppose we could read into his words and interpret them as meaning: “I want everyone to sit at the banquet table in heaven, but I want you to know that it takes personal effort, because it involves your whole person and a personal relationship with God.”

Imagine what we would say if a youngster - let's say a 10 year old - asked us, “Will I be a success when I grow up?” Now, they probably wouldn't use those exact words but whatever way they phrased it, we'd know they were talking about getting a good job, being popular ... liked by other people, having good friends, perhaps getting married and having a family ...

What would we say to them? A lot of thoughts would go through our mind. We want them to be successful, and we'd help them any way we could. But there are some things you can't make easy for someone else.

• They'll have to keep going to school, and keep learning, and that takes effort. No one can do it for them, and "learning" can be hard work. We don't have a pill that makes it easy.
• They'll have to learn how to manage relationships, and they'll probably have to go through the heartbreaks of young love.
• Sooner or later they'll have to leave home, and probably experience some homesickness.
• They'll make some mistakes and have to work through them and have to pay a price.There would be all those things and more. You can't just "drift" into becoming a mature, well-developed human being.
• So, we'd tell the youngster that we want them to be "successful" and we're pulling for them and we'll help them every way possible ... and they probably will be successful ... but it will take some effort and hard work.

That's what Jesus' response is to the question: Will many people be successful and go to heaven? He uses three images - probably spoken on different occasions, but put here in one place by Luke. First, the image of the gate: it's narrow, which means it will take some effort and some strength to pass through. Second, the image of the master of the house who has locked the door: it can only be opened from the inside. Which is to say, we need God's help. We can't do it on our own. We need God's grace ... which is given to us as a gift, but we have to freely acknowledge that we need it. Third, he uses the image of a banquet to which all sorts of people come from east and west, north and south. There's no privileged class that has an inside track and can get around the struggle that everyone has to go through to live a good life. You don't just "drift" into heaven.

It keeps coming back to the same thing: There are some things that can't be made easy for us. A parent can't do that for a child, and God can't do that for us. There are some things that no one else can do for us, not even God. We're not robots. We can't be programmed by someone else. An example that comes to mind is learning to play the piano. Now, there's a way in which someone who makes no personal effort at all can play the piano. They buy a player piano and sit there and pump the pedals or, now, you can buy one that operates automatically and you don't even have to sit there and push pedals. But that's not "personally" playing the piano, and there's a world of difference.

To learn how to let ourselves be loved by God, and to love God in response takes us to the core of who we are. The question that fundamentalists like to ask comes into play here: Do I accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior? No one can answer that for us, and no one can make it easy to do that.

What we can do, just as a parent can do for a child, is provide a supportive environment, help one another through all the narrow gates, tell them about God's unconditional love for us, and assure them that they can do it no matter what their social class or IQ or status in the eyes of the world.

That's why we come together every week at the table of the Lord. We receive the food that is God's word, and the food that is the Eucharist. We sing the same songs together, pray together, and reach out a hand of peace to one another. We're trying to open ourselves up to God's love, God's gifts. And we're trying to help one another - as parents do for children, as friends do for friends.

To live as a true daughter or son of God is within the reach of everyone. We were created for this. It's not complicated. But it can be difficult at times because we were created not as robots, but as free human beings capable of true love, capable of receiving God's love ... and capable of rejecting God's love.

In Luke's Gospel, two chapters after today's passage, Jesus tells three consoling parables: The parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal son. Let there be no doubt about God's love for us, God's forgiving love. Know that despite our failures, our inadequacies, God is there to help us every step of the way and to see us through, even carry us on his shoulders, if we will just freely choose to let God do it.

Originally given on August 26, 2001