The gospel question of course has a context in St Luke’s Gospel. While we may like to think of Luke as the “nice” gospel with its parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, with its accounts of the Annunciation, the Birth of Jesus, the Circumcision and the Boyhood of Jesus, nevertheless there is a whole dimension of the teaching of Jesus in Luke which is what we called “eschatological” that is focused on the End Times with its coming judgment and of the associated themes of preparedness and watchfulness. You find it in chapters 11 and 12 leading into today’s question: “Lord will only a few be saved?” Those poor disciples could only take so much.

The interesting thing is that Jesus does not answer the question. Rather he gives the two rather demanding illustrations of the narrow door and of the shut door. “Strive to enter through the narrow door” and the owner of the house who “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”. The cries of those outside “we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets” is met with the sharp rebuff “I do not know where you came from; go away from me you evildoers!” This all seems hard and uncompromising and seems to fly in the face of the hospitality of God which is also a important theme of Luke’s Gospel. But put this in the context of Jesus journeying to Jerusalem under constant verbal attack from religious officials and you begin to sense the urgency of his message.

It is so hard for us living as we do in a society where our religion is accepted if not always honored to catch that same sense of urgency. But Jesus is saying to those disciples long ago but just as relevantly to us that passivity is not enough. It is not enough that we had meals together or that we are part of the same society. Our religion is not simply one of passive association. That will not stand us in good stead when we are called to give account or when it really matters. Jesus says to his questioner, “Strive to enter”. We are called to be active in our faith, seeking to live it and to grow in it. We see plenty of examples of “official or communal religion” which while comforting to participate in or be associated with, do not put any demand on us. Like on the Mount of Transfiguration we are called on to decide whether or not to stay on the mountain top savoring the atmosphere or to follow Jesus down the mountain, onto the plain and eventually onto Jerusalem, to and through his death and resurrection to the Spirit-filled life.

But the theme of God’s hospitality is not entirely lost for while there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” among those excluded from the kingdom by their passivity or lack or preparedness or activity, Jesus reminds the disciples that in fact “people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” These words were confronting to those who trusted in their religion, that is in their status before God, but who at the same time despised those who did not share their religious tradition. Jesus words hint not only at the gathering in of the Diaspora but also to the future Gentile mission. But even then there will be surprises since “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Our perceptions of who will be saved do not measure up to God’s inclusive and generous hospitality.

The other two readings also speak of the future, of judgment and salvation and offer words of warning and of hope. The prophet Isaiah speaks uncompromisingly to the rulers of Jerusalem “who have made a covenant with death”; “who make lies a refuge”; “who have made falsehood a shelter.” These rulers have flouted the moral principles of their religion and think they can get away with it. But they fool themselves for as the prophet reminds them God has acted “laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation” for whom “justice is the line and righteousness the plummet.” The rulers will be judged by that benchmark; they will be held accountable for their misdeeds; they will not escape the wrath to come. “For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it” says the prophet scathingly. This passage has particular resonance for us who believe that Jesus is that sure foundation, that precious cornerstone, the one in whom God’s justice and righteousness dwell. It is the same God in both the Old and New Covenants who calls us to the moral life.

The Hebrews lesson is less familiar to the modern hearer. That is partly because the language of Hebrews is difficult speaking as it does of the sacrificial and liturgical life of the old order. The writer contrasts the old dispensation and the new dispensation. Here the contrast is between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, between the unapproachability of God in the Sinai experience where only Moses could go up the mountain and that of Mount Zion where is the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” and ultimately “to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.” But once again this salvation which is ours in Jesus Christ is not to be taken for granted. “See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking to you; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth (that is Moses) how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven!” And finally “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and with awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.”

All three lessons speak to people of faith of every age. God has indeed acted on our behalf. He has become for us in Jesus Christ that “sure foundation, that living stone, that mediator of a new covenant” who calls us to be a people of justice, truth and love. As we say “Yes” to God as Mary said her Yes long ago, so we commit ourselves to a new way of life which is God-centered, in which we strive to live according to God’s ways of righteousness and justice and love and to approach God in worship with reverence and awe and deep sense of thankfulness.

Today we approach God in worship in this eucharist. Do we come prepared, expectant, penitent, thankful and with a deep sense of reverence and awe? Or do we come in a casual, rather off hand way, unprepared and distracted? Today’s readings all call us to look to ourselves in our approach to God, for “indeed our God is a consuming fire”, whom as we state in a few moments “shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead.” Amen

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