Twenty first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings proclaim an interesting message. On one hand, the readings speak of wideness, vastness, something all-embracing. In the first Reading from Isaiah God says: “I am coming to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory…They shall bring your brothers and sister from all the nations”. This is something big! God is throwing the biggest family reunion of eternity –and He wants you and me and everyone there! In today’s Gospel Jesus describes the heavenly banquet and says that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and people from every direction will be seated at table. It’s a beautiful vision.

This speaks of the wide embrace of God. God’s heart is big and His love and mercy are infinite. St Paul writes to Timothy in his first letter (1 Tim 2:4) that “God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. And St Peter writes something similar in his second letter (2 Pt 3:9) that God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”. Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save every single person. 

But here comes the perplexing part. This sense of wideness is contrasted by narrowness. A certain man comes up to Jesus in today’s Gospel and asks: “Lord, will only a few be saved?” (Lk 13:23). Jesus does not say yes or no. He does not give a precise number. He simply presents a challenge: “Strive to enter through the narrow door”.

It would seem that there are no automatic tickets to heaven. The door Jesus speaks of is not the wide automatic door we might find entering Tesco. It’s not a “VIP access”. In Jesus’ time, a narrow door was the small entrance beside the main gate, which was used when the large gates were closed.

The word “narrow” might make us a bit nervous. It sounds restrictive, like airplane bathrooms or that aisle in the shop where you knock over everything trying to squeeze through.

How do we reconcile the two very contrary images of wideness and narrowness? The door is open and what’s beyond it is greater than anything we could ever imagine, but because it’s narrow, we have to let go of a lot of things in order to get through the door. The door is narrow not to keep people out, but rather to keep out pride, selfishness and the baggage we get attached to. Jesus is asking us to squeeze through the door with humility, love, surrender and trust. Maybe that’s what Jesus means when He says that we can only enter the Kingdom of heaven if we become little like a child.

Have you ever tried to fit through a turnstile with too many shopping bags? You might try to wiggle and twist like a pretzel, but nothing works until you drop something or let go of a few bags. Jesus makes it clear that the path to the Kingdom of God is like a narrow doorway. Not because God wants to make things difficult for us, but because we are often carrying too much baggage to fit through. This might be material things that we are attached to, but we can also be spiritual hoarders. We can cling to pride, grudges, comfort zones, fear of change, self-righteousness. We have to let these go. I one saw a man at the airport trying to stuff an oversized suitcase into an overhead bin. He was sweating, twisting, pushing. At one point, he even sat on it, thinking it would shrink. It didn’t. The flight attendant smiled and said: “Sir, you can’t force something in that doesn’t fit.” The narrow door works the same way. Our egos, our grudges, our “I’m better than others” attitudes – they don’t fit through. We need to travel light – with love, mercy and simplicity.

And Jesus uses the word “strive” – agonízomai in Greek. It’s where we get the word “agony” from. It describes an athlete’s intense training or a soldier’s perseverance in battle. It’s as if Jesus is saying: It’s not enough to be a gym member. You also have to do the workout. Just as physical fitness requires some effort, so does spiritual growth. Salvation is like catching a flight. Imagine you are at the gate with your boarding pass in hand, but you end up spending all your time wandering the airport shops. The flight boards, the door closes and you end up late for your flight. “But I had a pass!” It’s not enough to hold the ticket. We also have to board the plane and live the journey.

“Strive” does not mean that we have to “earn our way”. None of us could ever earn heaven. It means we put our heart into it. It means we give our best response to God’s invitation and grace. We make it a constant life pursuit. It’s something on the top of our priority list. It means we show up daily, loving even when it’s hard, forgiving even when it’s painful, choosing Jesus even when it’s not convenient. The path to eternal life in heaven is marked by daily choices to love, forgive and follow. The journey requires focus and commitment. We can’t drift into heaven on autopilot. The Kingdom of God is not a casual stroll – it’s a pilgrimage. A marathon runner once said: “You don’t just wakeup and run 26 miles by accident. Every mile is a decision”.

A man once prayed: “Lord, I want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” God replied: “Great. Here’s your map: Love your enemies, forgive everyone, serve the poor, trust Me daily.” The man looked at the map and asked: “Do you have a GPS version?” The only GPS that is going to get us to heaven is Grace, Prayer and Simplicity. With these we can easily slip through the narrow door and jump into God’s wide embrace!

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