Luke 13:22–30

13th Sunday After Pentecost

²²Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, ²⁴"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' ²⁶"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' ²⁷"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' ²⁸"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. ²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

How many people will be in heaven? That was a pretty logical question for someone to ask Jesus. Especially since Jesus himself had brought up the subject of God’s kingdom. What’s more, Jesus had been arguing with the religious leaders. He even called them hypocrites. If they were hypocrites and did not belong to God’s kingdom, then who did? If there was doubt about whether or not the Pharisees and priests were going to heaven, then who could be saved?

So it was not at all surprising that someone would ask the question. However, Jesus did not dwell long on the theoretical question asked in the third person. He immediately turned the question into a person one: “Will you be one of the saved?”

Jesus got up close and personal. Many will come and knock at the door, but only a few will enter. Will you be one of them? Don’t spend your time worrying about who or how many; just strive to make sure you are one of them.

The Formula of Concord talks about this verse and states: “Our concern is not for who is saved of lost, or chosen or not chosen, but for forgiveness of our own sins and salvation of our soul.” Rather, as Luther says: “We should concern ourselves with this revealed will of God… and be diligent about it …follow the order of Romans. Concern yourself first with Christ and his Gospel so that you learn to know your sins and his grace.” Learn to know your sins and his grace!

Now the word “strive” translated here is an interesting word. In Greek it as “agonizomai”, or literally, “to agonize”. As Luther says, “Learn to know your sins.” That is true agony; recognizing and admitting our sin. Agonize on account of your sin. Agonize because the law of God accuses you and tells you that you have no right to enter. Agonize because you deserve the fullness of God’s wrath and condemnation. Agonize because the door is narrow and few will find it. Agonize to make sure you are one of the saved.

For we are all sinners from birth. We are born into sin and have sinned from the beginning. The law of God crushes us under its weight as a hammer crushes a stone. That is true agony. Being crushed under the weight of the law on account of our sin and guilt. That is the agony the leads to repentance. That is the agony that brings us to our knees and seeks the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. That agony is the beginning of salvation.

But there are those who do not agonize over their sin. They are those who don’t admit that they are sinners, not even to themselves, not even to God. All over the world we find “religious” people. They do good things, they bow in worship, they make sacrifices, they read religious books and they try to win people to their way of life. All this they do in the hope of gaining God’s favor. Like the Pharisees and religious leaders they make a great show of how godly they are. They look down on us “regular” Christians and hold us in contempt because they are “more spiritual” than we. They are more mature in faith. They have reached a higher level of holiness. Jesus warns us, “don’t be one of those who think they are not sinful. Recognize and admit your sin.” Agonize over your sinful nature, like St. Paul when he cried: “Nothing good dwells in me. For the good that I would do, it do not; and the evil I do not want to do, that I do.”

Agonize over your sin because the door is narrow into the kingdom of God. Many who think they are good enough will not be able to enter. Those who are counting on the fact that they are good people, kind and generous, or active in church work, or leaders of the congregation will not enter by the narrow door. They think that their goodness and their works are the door. They think that their spiritual maturity and commitment are the door. They think that being a member of a church, or being a Lutheran, or a Baptist, or Methodist, or Catholic is the door. They think that being a Sunday School teacher or being the brother of a pastor is the door. Our goodness is not the door. Our family or friends are not the door. The visible church is not the door. There is only one door and it is a narrow door.

But the shocking news is this: Even Jesus had the door slammed in his face. For there on the cross, at the very pinnacle of his pain and suffering, he was abandoned by his Father and cast into the fiery furnace where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. He was abandoned and left alone to suffer on the cross because he bore our sin. He was cast out into everlasting punishment because he bore our guilt. There on the cross he paid the price for our sin. With his very blood he purchased us for his Father. Jesus absorbed us and our sin into himself so that when he died, we died. When God struck him on account of sin, our sin was punished and put to death. As Luther, “Learn to know your sins and his grace.” This is his grace.

There on that ugly cross he became the door to heaven. Yes, Jesus Christ is the very door that he talks about. He is that narrow door. He is the door because he earned the right to enter heaven with his perfect obedience and his sacrifice on the cross. He is the door because only through his death and resurrection can we enter heaven. Out of an unprecedented love for us sinners, he died the death that we deserve for us so that he could be raised for us. In that way he become our door to heaven.

And he is a narrow door, because only a few will agonize over their sin, repent and turn to him for forgiveness. The many will look to their own works, goodness, and intelligence but these are the wide door that leads to perdition.

And what is this perdition? Jesus goes on to warn us about it. He says that now is the time to repent; to agonize, because soon the owner of the house will shut the door and lock it. Then those who do not repent will stand at the door and knock saying, “Lord open up! We ate in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” In other words, “we came to church, we were baptized, we heard your preaching, we went to communion, we had the chance to come to Bible classes. We served you faithfully. We can’t even think of any great sins. Surely we were good enough to deserve your kingdom.”

But the master of the house will say, “I do not know you. Depart from me you evildoers.”

And there they will go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is how Jesus described it. When you see those whom you looked down on and thought were not as good as you and there they are sitting in the kingdom, and there you are left outside, then you will weep. Then you will know what agony is all about. But it will be too late. You have been cast out and the door has been shut. Now is the time to recognize your sin and repent. Now is the time to enter the kingdom by the narrow door of Jesus Christ who forgives your sin. Agonize to make sure you are among the few that enter in by the narrow door.

Through that narrow door will pass people from east and west, and from north and south. Those who agonize, who repent of their sin and trust Jesus, will come from the four corners of the earth through that door which is Jesus. Those are the ones who heard the gospel, repented of their sin and believed in the salvation of Jesus Christ. They are the ones who were baptized into Christ and who by faith cling to him for their forgiveness and salvation. They will come,… and they will enter by the narrow door at their baptism.

Then they will sit at the banquet table in the kingdom of God for an eternal feast. There shall be no weeping or gnashing of teeth. There shall all tears be wiped away. There will end their agony and they shall sin no more. There they feast at the table of the Lord forever. The Lord’s Supper which we celebrate on earth is a brief foretaste of that banquet. In our Communion we join in momentarily with the feast in heaven and sit momentarily with the Lord and with those saints who have gone before us; yes, even our dear own parents, and grandparents, our husband or wife, or perhaps even one of your children. All who have died in the Lord are sitting at that table and we join them in the Lord’s Supper.

And in our worship, we join in the anthem of praise that they sing night and day forever and ever. In our liturgy and hymnody we join in the eternal song of the church with our loved ones who have gone ahead of us. We join in their singing of the great Te Deum, and Agnus Dei, and the Gloria in Excelsis.

So agonize that you enter by the narrow door, for many will seek to enter and not be able. For the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Those we think are such fine Christians and such good people will not enter, but those whom we look down upon and despise as sinners, if they repent and believe, shall enter. Many of those who enter are those that we would least expect because they seem like the least among us. But many of those we would expect to be there, those we look up to as the great ones, will be left out.

There is another agony in this. Will your loved ones be there? Will your own family be there? How about your husband or wife? Your mother or father? You son or daughter? What about your friend, or they guy that works down the hall, or the neighbor across the street?

Agonize for them as well. Agonize by confronting them with their need of forgiveness. Agonize by telling them of the forgiveness in Jesus Christ. For he is a narrow door. Help the blind to find the door and the deaf to hear the good news in order that all peoples from the four corners of the world may enter in by the narrow door and sit at the eternal banquet table in the kingdom of God.

Amen.