Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
Some general statistics might have been helpful for planning how much effort to apply to one's own sanctification and to attempts at evangelizing others. If most people would be saved it might seem acceptable to not strive too much at being converted and simply avoiding becoming like the worst offenders of society. If extremely few would be saved it might seem like a reason to give up in despair. Perhaps one could not attain whatever was necessary for salvation oneself, much less make a difference for others. The fewer the number of the saved the less likely it was to make an impact on that number. Contrary to popular belief, the idea that of the number of the saved being very few as a motivation to evangelism does not actually seem very compelling. What it does seem to engender is smugness on the part of the proud, and despair on the part of those with a more realistic self-image. Maybe the idea that the saved are few is slightly more efficacious in motivating individuals than the idea that they are many. But neither is ultimately all that useful.
Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
Jesus did not respond in the abstract with percentages of the saved and the damned, along with a margin of discrepancy for the impact of free will. He certainly could have. He knew the way things stood at that moment, and how they would stand on the last day. He knew every name that would be written in the book of life. But he knew that such knowledge would not be helpful to those still in the state of wayfarer. Rather than beginning on the basis of comparison with the mass of humanity, it was necessary to begin at an individual level. The fact that Jesus told the questioner to strive meant that it must be possible for him to enter the narrow gate in question. He would be able, at least in theory, to do this in spite of the fact that many would not be strong enough. If he simply looked at a majority of people trying and failing in spite of their strength and the intensity of their effort he might have given up without trying. But there was a key in the answer Jesus gave that might make it possible for him where many others failed. The others had used their own strength, apparently trying to widen a narrow door so that they could bring their unredeemed humanity along with them into the Kingdom. But Jesus implied that being known by him, being in relationship with him, was a sufficient basis to grant access to the narrow door. On the basis of this relationship the man would come to look familiar to Jesus, not just as one who ate and drank in his company, but as his friend. He would gradually find less and less need to contort himself and force his way in. He would come to take on a shape that fit through the gate just as a key fits in the lock it is meant to open. This would be true because his life had become cruciform as it became more and more like that of Jesus. He himself increasing took on the likeness of Christ himself.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.’
People who insist on trying to force their way into the Kingdom will eventually find that it does not succeed. But those willing to rely on grace, to be made to take on a new shape to fit through the gate by the power of that grace, will be able to enter. And if the number of those who remain without is not small, neither it seems, is that number who will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, to recline at table in the Kingdom. We don't have any final word here about the number of the saved and the damned. But we do have good cause for hope, for ourselves, those we love, and for the world Jesus himself came to save.
Robin Mark - Shout To The North
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