Focus on the issue of your own salvation

August 26, 2007 -- 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

There's an exercise trail that I used to frequent, which is located near a hospital. You jog along the trail, and periodically stop at specified stations, where you perform exercises according to the posted instructions. The exercises range from push-ups, and sit-ups, to walking the narrow line on top of a rail elevated a few feet off the ground. That last exercise looks easy, but it turns out to be fairly difficult to maintain your balance once you are tired out from running. It takes a lot of coordination, to walk the narrow line.

That exercise always reminded me of the words we will hear in this Sunday's gospel reading, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate," Luke 13:22-30. Jesus utters those words in response to the question, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?"

We might notice that Jesus does not give a direct answer. He does not say yes or no. Instead, he shifts the focus of the question. He does not allow the questioner to lose himself in an anonymous crowd. Jesus makes it a personal issue, whether the questioner himself will be saved or not. Jesus is telling the questioner, "Do not worry about people in general. Worry about yourself."

We might compare Jesus' tactic to the following situation. A prediction telling us that a relatively small number of people would die from heat exhaustion this summer might be literally accurate. At the same time, it might be misleading, if it gave people a false sense of security. If people believed that there was no need to take any precautions against heat exhaustion because of such a prediction, then some might let down their guard. Some might needlessly die. Perhaps only one person would die. That death would be statistically insignificant. At the same time, for that particular individual, his or her own death would have vast significance. If you are the person who is dying, it does not matter that it is a small number.

That is why Jesus answers the question the way he does. He wants the questioner to face the issue of his own salvation, not of people in general. Jesus wants the person to focus on what he or she can control, not on theoretical issues.

After issuing the statement about the narrow gate, Jesus then proceeds to tell a parable. Like the statement, the parable also features an entryway, specifically, a door which is opened or closed.

We should note that the parable, although related to the statement about the narrow gate, veers off in a different direction. The statement about the narrow gate focuses upon the difficulty we have in following the teachings of Jesus. It is not easy to live according to those teachings in the midst of our daily lives. On the other hand, the parable looks at the consequences which flow from how well one has followed Christ. It is a parable of judgment. God is the one who will either open the door to us, or shut the door in our face. The narrow way leads to heaven, but God is the one who opens the door.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)