Are Only A Few Going To Be Saved? The Answer Isn't Cheap

8.21.22 Luke 13:22–29

22 He went on his way from one town and village to another, teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. 29 People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

Are Only A Few Going to Be Saved? The Answer Isn’t Cheap

“Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” It seems like an odd question to our American ears. Heaven and Hell are almost extinct from our dialogue, and with no concept of sin there is nothing to be saved from. If anything, everyone is saved, because God is love. Yet this person in today’s text assumed the exact OPPOSITE, that only a few would be saved, and Jesus seems to CONFIRM it with His answer today.

It’s a pointed answer, a personal answer, and a scary answer. It’s first of all against those who like to ask a lot of “what if” and “what about” questions. What about the unbaptized child? What about the African tribes that never have a chance to hear about Jesus? What about Gandhi? Jesus doesn’t play that game. He goes from a statistic to a personal answer, “What about YOU? Should YOU have something to worry about?”

The answer is, “yes.” Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. Wow. That’s a violent and scary picture indeed. He almost seems angry about it.

What do we note about those being thrown outside? They almost have a sense of entitlement. They command the master, “Lord, open for us!” There’s also a false sense of security because of their familiarity with Jesus. It’s almost nostalgic. “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” You hear a lot of people today talk about how Jesus ate and drank with sinners who were the outcasts of society, so we should be welcoming to sinners too. That’s true, but this text makes it clear that eating and drinking with them didn’t save them. Having a nice moment or a fond memory from going to Lutheran grade school isn’t going to cut it, remembering how strict Pastor Kasischke was or how energetic Pastor Schulz was. We are sinners who deserve to be damned. God calls us to repent. It’s an awesome thing that God became human and dined with us. But that’s not what saved us. We had to have this God DIE for us. He came to be our bloody Savior and die our miserable death. It’s not His friendliness that saves us. It’s His gracious death and resurrection. Salvation comes with a call to repentance and faith. It’s not just a matter of eating and drinking with people.

Jesus starts out by saying, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Before we go any further, let’s just stop a moment to marvel at the fact that there IS a door to go through. This is a miracle in and of itself. Jesus created this door when He died for our sins and rose from the dead. He found a way to break through the barrier of sinfulness and holiness that we have between ourselves and God. Think of the angel that God posted at the Garden of Eden with the flaming sword to keep Adam and Eve from going back into the Garden. Nobody could get back in. The way was shut. Yet Jesus opened the Garden back up by receiving God’s wrath on the cross and paying for the sins of the world. Our baptism identifies us with Jesus and covers us with Jesus, putting us on the pathway to salvation. Faith in Jesus makes us look holy in God’s sight. There is a doorway through which we can escape this world. His name is Jesus. We don’t have to build this door. We don’t have to create this door. The door is already miraculously made and opened through Jesus. It is free and open.