A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (LSB Proper 16C), August 25, 2019.
Why A Narrow Door?
Luke 13:22-30
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 66:18-23; Hebrews 12:4-24)
Those who remember their days in high school or college literature classes may also remember that at some point you may have had to read through Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, with its refrain of “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. Given the current political climate and conversation, there is much that can be said about why walls aren’t loved or even thought of as being good things, let alone as a character in Frost’s poem declares, “Good fences make good neighbors.” But, all that aside, Frost’s poem does pose a good question, Is there a good reason for walls?
Although there are no walls mentioned in today’s Gospel, there is a door, and a narrow one at that. Both doors and walls really accomplish the same thing—they have the ability to keep people out. And why this seems strange to us is that Jesus’ words in this Gospel are all about God’s kingdom and who will be in it. What is Jesus trying to say and what do we need to learn about what gives access to God’s kingdom?
This whole conversation begins with an unknown and unnamed follower of Jesus asking the question, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” We really don’t know what caused this person to ask such a question, but it is a valid one. Even we today wonder who is it who will get into God’s kingdom, and by extension who is it that will be left out. So Jesus’ answer to this question gets right to the heart of the matter by answering about what is the access to salvation. “Strive to enter by the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
And perhaps it is right here where we have our problem. We know of our Lord Jesus as being the Savior of the world, the one who came to save all people from sin and death. And we rejoice that we are among those who have been called into the kingdom and to the gift of life with God forever. But it does seem a bit strange to hear that there will be those who will be left on the outside and unable to share in the life of the kingdom of God. Doesn’t God desire that all should be saved? Why wouldn’t a God of love just let everyone in?
The Gospel message is indeed welcoming and inclusive, desiring to embrace all people in God’s love shown in Christ. Yet, at the very same time, the promise that the Gospel message gives—namely the gift of eternal life—is exclusive, for it belongs only to the one who has faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who is also their Savior from the power of sin, death, and the devil. The Gospel is a welcoming invitation by God to all people to come to Him and to find their life in Him. Yet, this welcome is something that can only be received on God’s terms and not on our terms.
And this is what the “narrow door” is all about. The invitation into God’s kingdom is not about God simply throwing open the gates of heaven and saying, “Whoever you are and whatever you’ve been, y’all come in!” Although there is a ring of the truth in such a thought, it’s not the whole truth. God’s desire is to lovingly welcome all the children of His creating into His kingdom. He wants us all to be with Him and to live in His love forever. And yet, there’s a problem—our sin and sinfulness which separates and puts us at a distance from God. So, does this mean that the door is shut?
Actually, the door is open, but it is narrow, and it is narrow because the door is Christ Himself. He is the door into the kingdom because He is the One who by His death and resurrection gives to the world the forgiveness of sins. And this door is narrow because the only way into God’s kingdom is through faith alone in Him and His work of forgiveness for us. He alone is the door. Our work, our efforts, our striving will not let us in. But His call to us to come to Him and receive His forgiveness will bring us through the door into the kingdom.
As we go through that door, what waits for us? “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets…and people from east and west, and from north and south reclining at table in the kingdom of God.” And we might well ask, “How did they get there?” Simply by this—faith. All of these saints are in the kingdom of God in the same way we find ourselves there. They too passed through the narrow door—believing in the God who in love promised to give them life and the forgiveness of sins all through the gift of the Promised One, Jesus Christ. And by believing, the kingdom of God is theirs.
So why is there a narrow door? The promise of God’s kingdom of life and love is indeed for all the world, for God’s desire is that the whole world He created for Himself would return to Him. Yet, the reception of this gift of kingdom life is only for those who by faith believe that God in Christ has set them free from the power of sin and death and devil and brought them through the narrow door of the kingdom where they will live forever as God’s own. Getting into God’s kingdom is not about forcing our way in, or finding our own way to get around the door or even over the wall. Getting in is all about receiving the invitation to come through the narrow door which is Christ, and having come in, knowing that this is where we belong.
As those who have already come through the door, we rejoice because we know life is ours. And as we live this life, we also are the ones God uses to reach out through the door to bring still more others in, extending to them the invitation of the Gospel to come and believe in the One who has also saved them so that the joy of life in the kingdom may be theirs as well. There is still a multitude that can come from the corners of the earth to pass through the narrow door and into the eternal feast in the kingdom of God. Let us pray that all of God’s children will hear God’s call, believe in Him, pass through the gate of Christ, and find their never-ending life and joy forever fulfilled. God grant it! Amen!
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