“Salvation’s Narrow Door”
Text: Luke 13:22-30
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Do you think you’d recognize Jesus if you saw Him walking down the street? Ah, not so fast. You may have preconceived notions of what He looks like from painting and statues but you’ve never actually seen Him in person. Okay then, how about this? Do you think you’d recognize Jesus’ teachings and theology if you heard it? Well, that ought to be easy, right? After all, we have the Bible which records for us the very words that He spoke. Here again, I would caution you from giving a hasty answer. Because people tend to selectively chose a composite of Christ’s teachings which fits their own thinking and comfort zone, rather than humbly trusting in the real Jesus and His words of salvation.
You see, some people have created an image of Jesus as only a meek and mild man who was gentle, loving, and kind. But He was much more than that. For example, do you remember how He made a whip and drove out the animal sellers and money changers from the Temple? They were hindering the people from worshiping God and Jesus wouldn’t stand for it. He also displayed anger at sin and Satan’s deadly power over us. He fought fiercely to the death in order to defeat them both. His actions were like that of a bold and brave warrior! That’s a side of Him that gets overlooked or conveniently forgotten. And something similar happens when it comes to the teachings of Christ. People hear what they want to hear as long as it fits their template of who Jesus is, what the plan of salvation consists of, and how we receive it.
If you need proof of that, just consider last week’s Gospel reading from Luke 12. It just doesn’t sit right with us when Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Some folks bristle at that because their image of the Savior resembles a spiritual guru, walking around in a white robe with doves flying around Him and teaching people that “all you need is love.” That ignores the fact of what Jesus says is the real reason He came into our world. We are sinners and God’s Law condemns us to hell for it. And as long as we embrace sin there cannot be true peace. Not between people and certainly not between us and God. Rather, sin causes conflict and division because it separates us from one another and especially from the Lord. God’s Word of both Law and Gospel is at odds with our sinful world. The only way that this can be reconciled is through the bloody death of Jesus.
Our Gospel lesson for today picks up on that theme. Jesus came to provide us with salvation, but the logical question is: How do we access it? There’s a phrase that summarizes the answer. “We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.” That sounds so simple. And it is! Salvation for us is as easy as falling off a log. But Jesus makes it clear that it has to be on God’s terms and according to His plan, not ours. We don’t always like that because all too often we’ve come up with our own methods of being saved that fit our comfort zone. Jesus says that unless you drop your preconceived notions and listen to Him instead, then you are in danger of being lost forever.
That’s what the discussion in our text is all about. Someone asked Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” We don’t know for sure why this person posed the question. But we can get a hint in Jesus’ answer. It seems that this person thought, “I know I’m saved, but what about all these other people who are hearing You?” Instead of answering that, Jesus turns it around as if to say, “You’re asking the wrong question. Instead of concerning yourself with others, you better first make sure that you are saved.” And in the rest of His answer, Christ dispels the myths about salvation that many people held to then and still cling to now.
Jesus says in verse 24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” The Greek word for “strive” is actually more intense. We get our English word “agonize” from it. It was used to describe a wrestler struggling against his opponent, or perhaps a soldier in hand-to-hand combat. And the tense of this verb is an ongoing action. So, this striving is not a one-time game of patty cakes. This struggle goes on every day of our lives and it’s a serious matter of eternal life or death.
“Wait a minute, Pastor. I thought you said that salvation was as easy as falling off a log. Jesus died for my sins and there’s nothing left for me to do in order to be saved, right? So why is this an agonizing struggle?” Good question. Your salvation is indeed free and already accomplished for you by Christ’s death on the cross. That’s the good news. The door of salvation is wide open to you and all people. However, there’s something that can keep you from going through that door. It’s the baggage of your sins and self-righteousness. That’s why Jesus calls it a narrow door. You can’t fit through it while clinging to all your garbage. You have to really struggle to shed it if you want to enter that narrow door of salvation.
Perhaps an illustration will help. When I signed up for the Army, I went in on the delayed entry program. I took all the tests and was accepted, but I didn’t have to report for duty for 7 months. Frankly, I got lazy. I ran around with my buddies and lived it up, eating and drinking whatever I wanted. As you might imagine, I put on weight. So when I showed up for my induction date I had about 20 pounds of excess baggage around my waist, and I was rejected. They gave me 30 days to lose it, or else I wouldn’t be allowed in. I wanted in so bad that I did whatever it took. And let me tell you, it was a struggle. I exercised and more or less starved myself. When I returned to the Induction Center, I just barely made it in.
Because of Christ’s death on the cross, your sins have all been paid for. He passed the test for you. In your Baptism, God applied the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to you. He made you fit for His Kingdom and accepted you as one of His own. The door to heaven was opened up for you. And as you were instructed in the Christian faith you were taught about this narrow door of salvation which is through Jesus Christ alone. Your “induction date” into heaven is the day you die. The only thing you have to “do” then, is enter it. But as you wait, you’ve gotten lazy. You took on the excess weight of unrepented sin. You forgot about that daily, agonizing struggle against temptation. It was more fun to run around with your friends doing whatever you wanted to do, rather than living a life of humble obedience and repentance before God. And you saw no need to change your ways. After all, you’ve been Baptized and confessed your faith. You’ve attended church and even taken Holy Communion. So you have to be accepted by God no matter what, right? It’ll be a breeze for you to pass through that narrow door {or so you think.}
It’s that kind of thinking that Jesus is trying to dispel with His parable. The folks who ended up being rejected and shut out tried arguing with the Master. They say, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” You see, they were relying on some past association with Jesus to get them in. Yes, they hung around Him and heard Him speak, but they couldn’t say, “We believed and trusted in You for our salvation.” And it’s no different for us. Merely hearing God’s Word versus truly believing it are two different things. God says you are a sinner and calls you to sincerely repent. Simply mouthing the words of confessing your sins or professing your faith doesn’t work. The baggage of your sin will remain and that will make you unable to fit through that narrow door of salvation. Relying on your own goodness to remove those sins only makes matters worse. It actually ADDS to your baggage the sin of self-righteousness, and lulls you into a lazy complacency about your sinful condition. You rest on your laurels thinking you’re a shoo-in not realizing the mortal danger you’re.
The only way to enter that narrow door of Christ’s salvation is by shedding the baggage of your sin and self-righteousness. That takes place when we humbly bow before the Lord and recognize the miserable condition we’re in. Acknowledge that you are not able to help yourself nor do you have the power to remove the sins that will shut you out of heaven. But Christ Jesus can and will help you. Through His suffering, death, and resurrection He has opened to us the door of eternal life. If we repent and rely on His grace and mercy, He will remove all our sins and make us fit to enter in. By the power of His Holy Spirit, we now receive the strength to daily struggle against the sins which we are bombarded with. He guides us in the paths of righteousness so that we can avoid those sins. Yes, the door of salvation is narrow. But living by faith in the forgiveness of Jesus, we are assured that we’ll be able to pass through this life and dine at God’s table of eternal life. May God grant it to us all, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!