21 Sunday C The narrow gate

Four minute homilies

The narrow gate

Today in the Gospel we see a fellow coming up to Jesus and asking an important question: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” We are still asking this question nowadays. How many are going to be saved? Is anybody in hell? It is based in a truth of our faith: we all need salvation. Few years ago we had a debate about this topic when we had to change the words of the consecration during Mass, to better translate the original. We used to say that the blood of Christ was poured out for all and now we say for many. Some people weren’t happy with the change. We know that we all have the necessary graces to be saved. Saint Paul tells us that God “desires all men to be saved.” The truth of predestination is a difficult one.

Jesus didn’t answer directly. He just told us: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” He threw the problem back at us: the ball is in your court; it is up to us. The narrow gate is a good comparison, a graphic image. Jesus in Saint Matthew’s Gospel tells us a bit more about this gate: “The gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In this life there are only two roads that reach the other end: one goes down and it is wide and easy to follow; the other goes up, and it is narrow and difficult to find.

This tells us that heaven is won by force, getting up, struggling every day a bit, constantly beginning and beginning again. Do you think that plodding along, getting by, having an easy life is going to lead us to heaven? Today is a good day to change gears, to fire another cylinder, to take our faith more seriously. Jesus died on the cross for us. What are we doing for him? It is always difficult to know how much effort we need to put in without becoming obsessed, burned up or fanatical. It is not easy to find the balance. Saints are good at that. It is a matter of love. God is not going to ask something we cannot do. Pride can make us do silly things. It depends a bit on how we are. If we are a bit soft, we need to quicken our pace; if we are tough, we need to slow down. We are normally soft with ourselves and tough with others.

This narrow gate opens wide into a beautiful heavenly banquet. Jesus loves talking about this wedding feast, where he is the bridegroom and we are the bride. He himself tells us what we have to do to get through the gate: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” We are all invited, but only a few enter. Few doesn’t mean not too many, but it is a reminder that more should enter than actually do. It is the question of how many people are in hell. The saints answer that one is one too many. The good Lord talks to us about hell: “There will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” We need to talk about hell, even though people don’t want to hear, to warn them about its existence. When we fix our eyes in heaven, the road up is not too difficult. It is full of joy. The amazing reward, spurs us on. Look at how the martyrs endured their torments almost with a smiling face. They could see the finishing line.

Jesus ends the Gospel today with a paradox: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Imagine a race where the last wins; everyone would try to run backwards. Many people who are at the top of society will be last. And maybe the guy who is begging for money at the traffic lights will be ahead of us. We shouldn’t envy the famous: they have a more difficult road to travel. We should be happy with our own journey, the one God has prepared for us. It

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