Luke 13:22-30 NRSVue
22Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25Once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. 29Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God. 30Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
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Reflection on Luke 13:22-30
Inspiration from 2025-10-29 Daily Prayer
Our Lord invites us to come to know him personally and to become his friend. St Margaret Mary Alacoque said that the Lord once described St Claude de la Colombière to her as ‘his perfect friend’. How terrible it would be if, when we meet the Lord as we all do at death, he should say to us, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me.’
Further reflection
Unlike Jesus, we seem very often too concerned about numbers as if that is the most important sign of the presence of the Kingdom and of its power to save the world. Rather than on numbers, Jesus asks us to concentrate on entering through the narrow door. This phrase has given rise to all sorts of negative spiritualities, but what Jesus is saying is to take up the cross and follow him every day of our lives. It is the cross that will bring us joy and everlasting life.
He also foretells we will be surprised by those who enter and those who don't. However hard we try, we often find ourselves excluding persons or groups from salvation. Jesus invites us to be wary of judging others, and to believe that all can be open to God's loving offer of salvation.