Rather than closing the door of salvation to others, Jesus encourages us in the Gospel (Luke 13:22-30) to make sure that each of us personally walk through the door Christ has opened which leads to God's Kingdom.
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| Door to Basilica of Nativity (source) |
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Doors are a powerful symbol, so much so that the theme or symbol of a door appears in various songs from Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s” to, more recently, “Love is an open door”, from the movie frozen. Doors can symbolize many things. An open door can denote welcome, while a closed door can make us feel shut out and excluded. In the Gospel today, Jesus is asked an important question: “are only a few being saved?” In responding to this question, Jesus uses door imagery. He speaks about a number of different doors in the Gospel: a narrow door (v. 24), a door slammed shut (v. 25) and even a seemingly infinite number of doors open to all (v. 29). In order to better understand Jesus’ response to the question, “are only a few being save?”, let’s dig deeper into the rich door symbolism.
There is a perennial temptation to close the door of God’s salvation and mercy to certain groups of people. At Jesus’ time, the question of who was being saved was much discussed. Were only Jewish people saved, or could Gentiles also be considered a part of God’s people and be saved as well? Would all Jewish people be saved or just certain kinds of Jewish people, that is, certain groups within Judaism? There was a tendency to limit who could be saved, to close the door of God’s goodness to some. We can do the same today. In 2020, Pope Francis wrote an important document called Fratelli Tutti, which can be translated as “We are all brothers and sisters”. In this document, Pope Francis discusses a negative trend that often marks our society, namely, polarization. For example, we can be polarized along political lines. People are either conservative or liberal. Depending on our outlook one is good while the other is bad. When this way of thinking enters the Church, there can be damaging effects. We can think that God could not possibly be with people of other religions. Or we can think that only my particular subgroup within the Church is the “correct” one. God is with my type of Catholic and not others. Just as at Jesus’ time, we can run the risk of closing doors on people, thinking that certain individuals or group cannot access the mercy and goodness of God.
In the Gospel today, Jesus challenges this way of thinking, proclaiming that the doors of salvation are open to all. To those who may think that only their group can be saved Christ proclaims that all people can become a part of God’s family. His mercy and goodness extends to all. Jesus says that Gentiles, that is, non-Jewish people can become a part of God’s kingdom. In fact, people are pouring into God’s kingdom, from all directions, the east and the west. The doors of God’s salvation are open to all. Jesus even goes so far as to say that we will be surprised about who will be a part of God’s kingdom, about who will be saved. He says that “some who are first will be last and some who are last will be first.” God’s way of thinking about salvation is quite different than ours at times. You may have heard the story and about the priest and the taxi driver who arrive at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter welcomes them and shows them to their homes. He guides the taxi drive to a wonderful mansion. "Thank you," the thrilled taxi driver said. Anticipating an even larger mansion, the priest was dismayed when they arrived at a small 1-bedroom apartment. "St. Peter, I'm confused," the priest began. "As a priest, I devoted decades of my life solely to serving the Lord. How come the taxi driver got a mansion, and for me, only a small apartment?" St. Peter smiled. "Up here, we go by results. While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed”. Jesus tells us that God’s salvation is available to all. Some of those who we close the door on may ahead of us entering God’s kingdom.
Rather than closing the door of salvation to some individual or groups of people, Jesus encourages us to focus on ourselves and ensure that we personally enter through the door that leads to salvation. The door to salvation is narrow, Jesus tells us. We need to do something in order to enter it. As Jesus so often does when he is questioned by people, he changes a theoretical query into practical advice. When Jesus is asked about whether few or many are being saved, people expect him to respond with a list of groups of people who can be saved: Jew or non-Jew, this kind of Jewish person or that. In Jesus’ response, he makes it clear that the background of people is not as important as their behaviour. The door of God’s salvation, love and mercy are open to all. All can enter in and become a part of God’s family. What matters is how we act – each of us personally – that determines whether we walk through the door and enter God’s kingdom. In other words, rather than judging others, we need to be concerned with ourselves.
At the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, there is a famous door. The door to enter this Church that is built over the site of Christ’s birth is quite low. Everyone can get through the door. However, you need to bend down to enter it. Historically, this door was probably built in this manner to ensure that people on horseback did not enter the Basilica. Over the years, however, the door was given a metaphorical message that expresses well Jesus’ point in the Gospel. All can enter through the door that leads to Jesus and the salvation that He brings. Although we can all enter, we personally need to make some changes to enter the door. To lower ourselves, to be humble, to serve others more than ourselves. Today, Jesus encourages us once again to walk through this door that leads to God’s salvation and goodness.
