21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, C August 21, 2022
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
What are you really after? When you ask a question like “will only a few people be saved,” what is the real question? The deeper motivation? I think it could be several things; most of them aren’t good. Most of them come back to pride.
We might want to know how many people will be saved out of a simple desire to have the answer. The one who asks Jesus this question is probably thinking about a debate. Jewish rabbis had been debating this question for a while and there were different schools of thought. It’s likely this man agreed with one rabbi and was looking for confirmation that he and his side were right. But some truths are not ours to know.
Or, we might ask such a question because we’re not certain about our own fate. Rather than asking outright and exposing our own insecurity, we could try to use this question to get an indirect answer – to make it look like a scholarly question rather than an expression of personal fear and doubt. But hiding our weakness doesn’t erase it.
Or, perhaps we have – consciously or unconsciously – developed a list of qualifications for salvation. Perhaps we’re thinking of people who aren’t saved because they don’t measure up and we’re looking for confirmation that we have judged rightly. Similarly, this can be a way of us judging God. We might instinctively assume we know what’s fair and what isn’t, so we want to test and see of God’s idea of justice matches our own. A lot of people claim to not believe in God are really just mad that his idea of justice doesn’t line up with their own.
There’s possibly another dangerous assumption buried in this question. That we are already one of the few. The Jews are God’s chosen people, beneficiaries of the covenant. So, many Jews assumed they were going to be saved in the end but that all the Gentiles weren’t. The man asking this question is imagining himself to be one of the few because he’s already a Jew. The reason I say this is that Jesus goes out of his way to make a point that Gentiles – people from east, west, north and south – will be saved. That tells us that Jesus saw this assumption and wanted to address it head on.
Still, when Jesus does his usual thing of not answering the question directly, he gives a response that can address all these potential pitfalls of pride. Rather than settle an academic debate, his response slaps down arrogance and challenges us to focus on what matters more: our own salvation. That’s clear from the first word he says in response, “strive.” Even in the Greek, the first word is Agonizesthe… which you might notice sounds similar to “agonize.” This connection is helpful to remember when you consider the second reading’s command to accept suffering and trial as the loving “discipline” of God. Strive to remain faithful even when it is agonizingly difficult. Perseverance – striving even when it’s hard – that’s the way to heaven.
So, how many people are going to go to heaven? To put it bluntly, that’s not your business. You will not get an answer. Just as Jesus refused to tell us when the second coming is, so he will not give us the final numbers. When people get fixated on either the second coming or the total number of people in heaven, their focus is in the wrong place.
There’s only one reason I can think of that is a good motivation to ask this question: a love of other people. The basic desire to get other people to heaven can spark a desire to know whether or not it’s possible to get them to heaven. Like, if I’m going to spend time and energy trying to convert people, I want to know if it’s even possible. Maybe I want to know how hard it will be. A basic desire for other people’s happiness can spark this kind of curiosity. But, saving “everyone” is not your job. There’s only so many people you can reach. Focus on them.
Besides, knowing the final number doesn’t help you change it. The same is true for almost everything worth doing in life. Take marriage or priesthood or becoming a nun for example. People want to know “will we make it?” or “am I going to be able to handle this way of life?” Marriage is hard. So is the priesthood. Most people know that, yet there’s a lot of people who can tell you that if they knew exactly how hard, they wouldn’t have tried at all. Those that got through it would tell you that they’re glad they didn’t know ahead of time but are also glad they went through with it anyway.
There’s also the opposite problem. If we think something is too easy, we might not try hard enough and fail anyway. If you take a friendship for granted and never reciprocate, you will lose that friend. If you take your health for granted and fail to exercise or eat well, you will lose it. If you take your job too lightly, you could lose it. Really, what Jesus is telling us makes perfect sense when you consider the effort involved in anything worth doing.
So, in this case Jesus gives us what we need to know and nothing else. Getting to heaven is hard. It is a narrow gate and it takes work. It requires strength. For the benefit of his immediate audience, Jesus makes it clear that simply being a Jew isn’t enough. The same is true for simply being a Christian. “Once saved, always saved” is obviously not true. Don’t fall for it. Just reading scripture isn’t enough. Simply hearing homilies isn’t enough. Just eating and drinking with Jesus – going to Mass is not enough. You must strive until the very end.
Should we hope that everyone goes to heaven? That’s the wrong question because the very idea of “everyone” isn’t real enough to matter in daily life. Should I hope that I go to heaven? Yes, if you strive for it. Should I hope the people I can help go to heaven? Yes, if you strive for it. The gate is narrow and many will not be strong enough, so strive!
And yet, is anyone strong enough? Actually, no. That’s part of the reason Jesus so strongly rejects all the prideful reasons to ask this question. You can’t assume you’re already in the “few” because you’re weak. You can’t determine who else is in because your judgment is not God’s. You want to know what matters? Humility in knowing your limits and dependence. Faith in that you strive to trust God. Love in that you strive to do as he commanded. Strive to cooperate with God’s grace, because that’s the only way anyone gets to heaven: by the grace of God. Persevere in grace… strive after grace and leave the rest to him.