OT XXI [C] Is 66:18-21, Heb 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13:22-30

Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen tells us that we will have three surprises in Heaven. The first surprise: We will be surprised to see that many people we expected to be in Heaven are not there. The second surprise: We will be surprised to see that the people we never expected to be in Heaven are there. The third surprise: We will be surprised to see that we are in Heaven! In today’s Gospel, Jesus answers the question, as to how many will be saved, by answering how to enter into salvation and how urgent it is to strive now, before the Master closes the door. Jesus clearly explains that anyone who follows him through the narrow gate of sacrificial serving and sharing love will be saved. Jesus also admonishes his followers to concentrate on their own salvation instead of worrying about the salvation of others.

When the questioner asked Jesus “How many will be saved?” he was assuming that the salvation of God’s Chosen People was virtually guaranteed, provided they kept the Law. In other words, the Kingdom of God was reserved for the Jews alone, and Gentiles would be shut out.  

Hence, Jesus’ answer must have come as a shock. Jesus affirms that God wants all persons to enjoy eternal life with Him. But he stresses the need for constant fidelity and vigilance throughout our lives. Thus, Jesus reminds us that, even though God wants all of us to be saved, we all need to work at it. Entry into God’s kingdom is not automatically granted, based purely on religious Faith or nationality.

How many will be saved in the end is a decision that rests with God and depends His Justice which includes His Mercy.  Jesus came to bring God’s love and freedom to the whole world. The message of his Gospel is that there is not a single person, people, nation, race, or class, which will be excluded from experiencing the love and liberation that God offers. Hence, the role of the Christian community, from the beginning until now has been, first and foremost, to proclaim to the whole world the Good News of God’s love for the world, and then to show this Good News to be real, reflected in the loving, sharing and serving lives of individual Christians.

Eternal salvation is the result of a struggle: “keep on striving to enter.”It is like the effort one would make in swimming against the current in a river.  A man must ever be going forward or else he will go backward.   We must enter through the “narrow gate” of sacrificial and selfless service.

Entering through the narrow gate denotes a steady obedience to the Lord Jesus — overcoming all opposition and rejecting every temptation.  It is the narrow way of unconditional and unremitting love. Mere faith in Jesus and membership in His Church by Baptism cannot guarantee salvation.  Some of the Fathers of the Church interpreted the narrow door as that small place in the heart where one says “yes” or “no” to what one knows to be true.  It is the one place through which no external force can enter to shape or coerce one’s choices.

“Being saved’ is the end-result – seeing God face to face in Heaven. Jesus explains that Salvation begins with Faith.  But it is also the result of how that Faith is lived.  We cannot “earn” our way into Heaven by good works, but we also believe that we must allow God to work in our lives through His grace, a grace that is reflected in our actions.

Hence, our answer to the question: “Have you been saved?” should be: “I have been saved from the penalty of sin by Christ’s death and Resurrection.  I am being saved from the power of sin by the indwelling Spirit of God.  I have the hope that I shall one day be saved from the very presence of sin when I go to be with God.”  Therefore, the Catholic faith is not like that of some Evangelicals who believe, once you receive baptism in faith you are saved for ever; you cannot lose your salvation.  This is not what the Bible teaches in today’s gospel.

We need to make wise decisions and choose the narrow gate.  God allows us to decide every day what road we will walk down and what gate we will choose.  He encourages us, however, to choose His way:  “Choose life” (Moses – Dt 30:19-20); “There are two paths: one of life and one of death, and the difference between the two is great.”(Didache);   “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” Says Jesus (Lk 9:23).   This means a consistent denial of self and the steady relinquishing of sinful pleasures, pursuits, and interests. 

The “narrow road” or “narrow gate” concerns our everyday—pursuing the Kingdom and God’s justice instead of fame and fortune; and it involves not condemning others. It involves repentance, obedience, humility, righteousness, truth and discipleship.  Hence, let’s strive to enter through the “narrow gate” by prayer and supplication, diligently seeking deliverance from those things which would bar our entrance, and acquiring those things which would facilitate our entry.

OT XVIII [C] Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23; Col 3:1-5, 9-11; Lk 12:13-21

Dr. Carl Menninger, the world-renowned psychiatrist, was talking on one occasion to an unhappy but wealthy patient. He asked the patient what he was going to do with so much money. The patient replied, “Just worry about it, I suppose.” Menninger asked, “Well, do you get that much pleasure from worrying about it?” “No,” responded the patient, “but I get terrified when I think of giving some of it to somebody else.”

Then Dr. Menninger went on to say something quite profound. He said, “Generous people are rarely mentally ill.” “People who cannot share with others have deep-seated problems. If our level of giving to the work of God and the service of others requires no sacrifice, then we have Jesus locked in a cupboard, and he is not really living in every part of our life. In today’s Gospel parable, God calls such people “fools.”

The common theme of today’s readings is the futility of the greedy acquisition of wealth and power because everything and everyone is “here today and gone tomorrow.” Therefore, the meaning of life cannot be found in possessions but in the sharing of time, treasure and talents with the needy.

The Jewish rabbis were often asked to settle disputes among their countrymen. They judged cases using the Mosaic Law as given in the Torah – the Jewish book of civil, religious and liturgical laws.   In matters concerning the distribution of property in a family with two children, the Torah (Dt 21:15-17, Nm 27:1-11, 36:7-9), granted two-thirds of the wealth to the elder son and one-third to the younger. If there were several sons, the first-born would receive double the inheritance of his younger brothers and would serve as the patriarch of the family and executor of his father’s estate.  In the case related in today’s Gospel, either the older brother had delayed the partition of property, or the younger brother was greedy. Jesus refused to be an arbitrator in this property dispute between two brothers because he had come to bring people to God by preaching the Good News of God’s forgiving and sharing love.  But he used the occasion as a “teachable moment,” instructing the audience on the folly of greed and selfishness, while contradicting the Epicurean motto: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Jesus challenged his followers to learn from the experience of the foolish rich man. We are called to look at our own lives, our own “riches” and to evaluate our true needs and wants. St. Gregory the Great taught that when we care for the needs of the poor, we are giving them what is theirs, not ours. We are not just performing works of mercy; we are paying a debt of justice. Life does not consist in possessions but in sharing what we possess with others. The goods of the earth have been given to everyone.

Bible does not condemn wealth altogether. In the Old Testament there are many examples of people who God blessed with material possessions. Abraham, Job, David, Solomon, Jacob are some examples of people who were indeed owners of much material wealth, which came from God.

It is not therefore wrong for somebody to have possessions. Job was the wealthiest man of the East but his wealth was not his joy! He didn’t put his trust in wealth.  Job’s trust was in God. That’s why he reacted the way he did when he lost everything: “God gave it, God took it”.

 Both the man of the parable and Job were rich men. But this is their only similarity. While Job’s joy was not dependent on his wealth, and his gold was not his confidence, this man here is the exact opposite. He is the picture of a worldly wealthy man.

It was not the plenty that was bad.  The problem with this man was his reaction towards this. He failed to recognize the provider of the good crop. He failed to give glory to the owner of everything. Instead he considered everything as belonging to him. This was his folly.

In the book of Malachi (3:10-12) we read: Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Therefore everything that we own is God’s.

We must be generous in sharing our time, our treasure, and our talents, the three elements of Christian stewardship.  Every one of us is rich in one thing or another.  The parable instructs us to share these gifts. Even if we are poor financially, we may be blessed with intelligence, good will, a sense of humor or the ability to encourage, inspire and support others. 

We should strive to avoid anything that could possibly separate us from Christ, anything that could break our friendship with him by violating his command to love God and love our neighbor.

There is a beautiful prayer in the book of Proverbs which the Jews used to say and which we can adopt too.  “Give me neither poverty nor riches but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Prv 30:8-9).

Jesus asked the rich fool, "And the things you have prepared for, whose will they be?" Are we prepared to deal with that question? Let’s try to become rich in matters that belong to God.