Our Gospel today touches on a difficult topic, one that many people have very strong feelings about. Jesus is asked by his disciples, “will only a few people be saved?” And Jesus responds, “strive to enter through the narrow gate.” This question has been debated for centuries by theologians, biblical scholars, and faithful Christians. And everyone has a different opinion. Some argue that only a few will be saved, others say many people will be saved but not everyone, and some say that all people will be saved. Each one of these positions has valid arguments, and the people who propose them, can quote all kinds of scripture passages and sayings from the Saints to support their claim. This question of, “how many will be saved?”, is very important and contested. So today, I would like to speak about what is at the heart of this question, and then about what is at the heart of this Gospel.
“Will only a few people be saved?” Well first, regardless if only a few or many will be saved, this question presupposes that some may not be. And if we are going to address this question, we must first address the reality of Hell. The doctrine of Hell is really a composite of two other doctrines of the Church: that God is love, and that we have free will. In our freedom, we can accept God’s love, or we can resist it, and when we resist it, when we resist the love of God, we experience suffering. Tradition uses many metaphors for this suffering. One of the most common is fire, the fires of hell, the burning pain that comes from resisting God’s love. But it is important to understand that hell is not a place, just as heaven is not a place. Hell is a state of being, the state of being separated from God’s love. So does hell exist, yes, absolutely. I have been there. There have been times in my life when I rejected the love of God and experienced the consequences. I’ll bet most people have experienced hell at some point in their lives. But is there anyone in the eternal realm of hell, someone who has permanently rejected the love of God and is damned because of it? The honest answer is, I don’t know. The Church canonizes saints. After a long cause of canonization, scrutinizing testimony and interviews, verifying miracles attributed to the saint, the Church proclaims that person is in heaven, but the Church has never claimed that someone is in hell. Why? Because we cannot know the depths of someone’s heart. Of course, the examples of Hitler, and Stalin come up, and Hitler and Stalin did do many horrible, evil, and vicious things, but can we be sure they never had an ounce of regret or contrition. No, we can’t know that, which is why the Church doesn’t pronounce definitely that people are in hell. Therefore, I offer the position that we may hope that all people be saved.
Now, let me be clear, I’m not saying that all people will be saved. To do so would be a heresy. I’m saying, along with the Church, that we should hope for all to be saved. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “In hope, the Church prays for the salvation of all.” That’s my position. Not that I presume everyone is saved, so one can live however one wants, and not that I expect everyone to be saved, no, I hope for it. But will everyone be saved? Well, evidence would suggest not. Look around in society today and there are plenty of people who reject the love of God, but I still hope for their salvation. Hope is at the center of the question of how many people will be saved, because hope is not about our own merits but about what Christ accomplished for us on the cross.
With this in mind, let’s move now to our Gospel. Why did the disciple ask this question and why did Jesus respond the way he did? Well, let’s first consider how strongly some people react to the claim that we may even hope for all people to be saved. The anger and vehemence of some people’s reaction, almost as if the idea of many people being in hell gives them joy. Almost as if the glory of heaven isn’t worth as much, if no one is in hell. It’s like they view heaven as a country club, but they get angry because anyone can get in. This is the attitude of the disciple in today’s Gospel. Listen, “Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate,” Keep in mind this is a faithful Jew asking, Jesus, another faithful Jew a question in a very Jewish context. So what did he mean, by asking “will only a few people be saved?” He is talking about the few Israelites, the chosen people, those who received the covenant and were led to the promised land. And so what this person, this disciple, is asking Jesus in a pretty malicious way is, “so me and my friends, all the Israelites, will be saved right, but not the gentiles, not the people who are outside of the covenant. Salvation is just for us.” That’s what’s going on here, and how does Jesus respond. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, “Lord, open the door for us. He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from. And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company, and you taught in our streets. ‘Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.” Jesus responds by saying, don’t be so confident in your position as an Israelite, as one of the chosen people. Have you striven to enter by the narrow gate? There is this notion among some people like this diciple, that they are an insider, that they belong in the country club of heaven. But what does Jesus say? “People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.” Jesus says that the kingdom of God is for all peoples, gentile and Jew, women and man, slave and free, not just the Israelites. Not Just us. Do not fall into the false sense of security that just because we are Catholics, we will be saved. We too must enter through the narrow gate. “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
This man who asks Jesus, “will only a few be saved” he is falling into this trap of a false security because he is an Israelite, and what Jesus is saying is, don’t put limits on God. Expand your imagination to the edges of what God can accomplish. Let your hope expand, to be as great as the mercy of God. Will all be saved? I do not know, and Jesus doesn’t tell us, but let us hope and pray for the salvation of all.
Fr. Ben Riley