Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us’ …
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
(verses 23-25, 28-30)
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“Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” It’s a twofold question: (1) How specific is the point of entry?, and (2) How many will get in?
It turns out the answer is both “very narrow” and “very expansive.”
The entry-point is precise. Indeed, it’s a “narrow door.” Those that presume they will make it in easily will find themselves locked outside, even though they may have hereditary connection with the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob). Jesus urges those listening to “make every effort to enter.” It’s not that entry requires hard work. Nor is it difficult. It’s just very precise. There is only one way in.
The portal, of course, is Jesus himself. He is the gate (John 10:7), the only entry. “I am the way,” he says later. “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Those in his own day who balked at his message, thinking they had ready access already to the kingdom, will find themselves excluded. If they want to enter, they must do it through Jesus himself. Through Jesus alone.
The same is absolutely true today. We live in a culture (at least in the West) that is broadly affirming of so many different perspectives, insights, understandings, and traditions. Much of it is helpful – to be accepting of differences is stretching, but so good. Yet when it comes to the spiritual life, there is only one way. His name is Jesus. To be accepting of many different perspectives regarding salvation simply distracts people from the narrow door. Every other option leads only to a dead end.
So, the first answer to the question, “Are only a few people going to be saved?”, is simply this: Only those who enter through the narrow door will get in; only those who enter through Jesus.
But the second answer is much more expansive than any of the people of Jesus’ day imagined. It will not just be those with the right ancestral heritage who get in. No. Not at all. “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” The invitation is expansive. The possibilities are broad. The diversity of those who gain entry is rich and generous and entirely surprising. Because although the entry way is exceedingly narrow, yet the door is wide enough to admit any who come – for any who place trust in Jesus.
So, when people in our own day claim that Christian faith is simply too narrow, we can say “yes, and no.” The door is narrow. But the invitation is broad. Pointing the direction to the only valid entry point is not exclusionary. Rather, it’s life-giving. It’s based in a desire to include as many as possible, to see the numbers swell of those who enter in.
It’s a perspective that rejoices in the Apostle John’s vision recorded later in Revelation:
“I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb … And they cried out in a loud voice:
‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’”
Jesus is the Lamb. He is the way. He is the narrow door. Enter in.
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Jesus, thank you for the invitation to enter through the narrow door. It’s you. Thank you that the multitudes of those you save will be vast. Praise your name.
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Reflect:
Give thanks for the narrow door, opening into life. It’s Jesus. Who are those in your own circle who need to find that door yet? Pray for them. Make yourself available to the Lord to help point the direction.
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Photo by Yucel Moran on Unsplash
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