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Sacred Scriptures/Liturgy- Commentary on Sunday's Readings |
Enter Through the Narrow Gate
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap, Pontifical Household Preacher
www.zenit.org
Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7,
11-13; Luke 13:22-30
There is a question that has always nagged believers: Will there be
many or few people saved? During certain periods this problem became
so acute as to cause some people terrible anxiety.
This Sunday's Gospel informs us that Jesus himself was once asked
this question. "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?'"
The question, as we see, focuses on the number -- How many will be
saved? Will it be many or few? In answering the question, Jesus
shifts the focus from "how many" to "how" to be saved, that is, by
entering "through the narrow gate."
We see this same attitude in regard to Jesus' second coming. The
disciples ask "when" the return of the Son of Man will happen and
Jesus answers indicating "how" we should prepare ourselves for that
return, and what to do during the time of waiting (cf. Matthew
24:3-4).
Jesus' way of responding to these questions is not strange or
discourteous. He is just acting in the way of one who wants to teach
his disciples how to move from a life of curiosity to one of true
wisdom; from the allure of idle questions to the real problems we
need to grapple with in life.
From this we already see the absurdity of those who, like the
Jehovah Witnesses, believe they know the precise number of the
saved: 144,000.
This number, which recurs in the Book of Revelations has a purely
symbolic value (the square of 12 -- the number of the tribes of
Israel -- multiplied by 1,000) and is explained by the expression
that immediately follows: "A great multitude that no man could
number" (Revelations 7:4, 9).
Above all, if 144,000 is really the number, then we can both close
up shop. Above the gate to heaven there must be a sign like the ones
parking lots put up: "Full."
If, therefore, Jesus is not so much interested in revealing to us
the number of the saved as he is in telling us how to be saved, we
can understand what he is trying to tell us here. In substance,
there are two things: one negative and the other positive.
It is useless, or rather it is not enough, to belong to a certain
ethnic group, race, tradition, or institution, not even the chosen
people from whom the Savior himself comes. What puts us on the road
to salvation is not a title of ownership ("We ate and drank in your
presence..."), but a personal decision, followed by a consistent way
of life. This is even more clear in Matthew's text which contrasts
two ways and two gates, one narrow and the other wide (cf. Matthew
7:13-14).
Why are these ways respectively called "narrow" and "wide"? Is it
perhaps that the way of evil is always easy and pleasant to follow
and the way of goodness always hard and tiresome?
Here we must be careful not to cede to the usual temptation of
believing that here below everything goes magnificently well for the
wicked and everything goes terribly for the good.
The way of the wicked is wide, but only at the beginning. As one
goes down this way it gradually becomes narrow and bitter. In any
case, it becomes very narrow at the end because it finishes in a
blind alley.
The joy that is experienced in it has the characteristic of
diminishing more and more as one tastes it, and it finally causes
nausea and sadness. We see this in certain forms of intoxication
experienced in drugs, alcohol and sex. A larger dose or stronger
stimulation is needed each time to produce pleasure of the same
intensity.
Finally the organism no longer responds and it begins to break down,
even physically.
The way of the just is instead narrow at the beginning, when one
starts off on it, but it then becomes a spacious boulevard because
hope, joy and peace of heart are found in it.
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