A Multitude No One Could
Count
Isaiah 66:18-21 Hebrews 15:5-7; 11-13
Luke 13:22-30
To the church in
the diaspora[1]
& to the
church of the unchurched[2]
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading from
the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you,
Lord.
Jesus passed through towns and
villages, teaching as he went and making his way to
He answered them, “The door to heaven is narrow, so work hard to get in. Many,
I tell you, will try to get in but will not succeed. 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 who you are and where you come from. And you will say, ‘We ate and drank
in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do
not know who you are and where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
You will wail and grind your teeth as you stand outside and see Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and all the prophets within the
The Gospel of
the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus
Christ.
----------------
Introduction
An old question
As Jesus was headed towards
In the 3rd
century, Origen, an early church father, uttered what became a famous dictum through
the centuries: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus
-- Outside the church there is no salvation.[3]
If you can’t be saved unless you belong to the church, then only a few, indeed,
are saved on the last day for there are one billion Chinese out there who don’t
belong to the church.
In the 4th
century
Equally gloomy in the 16th
century was the Protestant reformer, John Calvin with whom Predestination is
associated. He claimed that God predestined some to be saved and others to be damned,
apart from any good or bad they do. It‘s
a scary thought. In his autobiography, John Murray, an Englishman who migrated
to the
He
told me that he traveled nine miles on foot every Saturday to preach. I asked him, “How many people are in your
congregation?” “About a hundred,” he replied.
“How many of them do you suppose are predestined to everlasting
life? “I cannot tell,” he replied. “Do
you believe fifty are predestined?” “Oh no, not even twenty.” “Ten perhaps?” “Yes, maybe ten.” “Do you think the non-elect [the ones
damned apart from any evil they do] can do anything to get themselves out of
this terrible situation that heaven has decreed for them?” “Oh no,” he replied,
they might as well try to pull the stars out of the heavens.” “And do you think your preaching can assist
them?” “Certainly not. Every one of my sermons will simply sink them deeper and
deeper into hell.” So, then, you walk
nine miles every Saturday to sink ninety persons out of a hundred deeper and
deeper into never-ending misery!
In the late 1870s Charles Taze
Russell founded a movement known as The Jehovah's Witnesses. It believes that
the number saved is limited to 144,000 human beings – neither more nor less! That
number comes from the Book of Revelation which speaks of a 144,000 people “who had the seal of God on
their forehead” and “who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb” (Rev 7:1-14). Only 144,000 people saved, neither more nor less, is but a drop of water in the
whole sea of humanity.
A silly question
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Luke
has Jesus giving a chilling answer. “The door to heaven is narrow, so work hard
to get in. Many, I tell you, will try to get in but will not succeed.” Here the
Jerome Biblical Commentary takes pain to assure us that, “Jesus is not
declaring that many are doomed from the very start, despite their persistent
effort.” That isn’t much consolation. Jesus’ answer still seems to say that yes only a few are saved.
Fr
Andrew Greeley (the famous outspoken priest of
Parables
about a saving Father
What,
in fact, did Jesus tell the people (and us) about his Father in heaven, that
should have helped them know that many more than just a few will be saved? He told them a parable which likens
God to a father who had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Give me my
share of the inheritance. I am going off on my own!” He took his share, and off
he went into a foreign land where he squandered his money on loose living. He
was finally forced to hire himself out to a farmer who sent him out to slop the
pigs! While the pigs ate, he was hungry! That brought him to senses. He said to himself, “I will return to the
house of my father, and I will say, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and
you. Receive me back not as a son but merely as a hired hand.’” When one day
the father spied his son on the horizon returning home, he ran out to embrace
and kiss him. Thereupon he sent his servants to fetch a rich robe to cover his
son’s naked body, a ring to adorn his boney fingers, and sandals to comfort his
calloused feet. Then he ordered the fatted calf to be killed for a banquet to
celebrate a son who had been lost but now has been found (Lk
He
also told the people (and us) a parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray one
day. One was a Pharisee (a stickler on minute religious observances). The other
a tax collector (always mentioned in the same breath with sinners) (Lk
Jesus also told the chief
priests and the elders of the people (and us) a parable of about a father who
had two sons. He asked the older one to go work in the vineyard. The kid
shouted at his father, “No sir! I’m not
going!” But later he calmed down, repented and went to work in the vineyard.
Then the father went to the other son and asked the same of him. Pacifying his
father the kid responded, “Yes sir! I’m going!” But he never went! Jesus delivers the punch line of the parable,
saying, “When John the Baptist told you chief priests and elders to repent and
turn to God, you wouldn’t. When he told tax collectors and prostitutes to
repent, they did. I tell you, tax
collectors and prostitutes will precede you into the
Jesus
told another parable to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were scandalized
that Jesus welcomed and even ate with tax collectors and sinners. “Suppose one
of you has a hundred sheep and one of them strays and gets lost -- what do you do?
You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one
that got lost until you find it. When you find it, you are so happy that you
put it on your shoulder and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and
neighbors together and say to them, `I’m so happy I’ve found my lost sheep.
Let’s celebrate!’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who have
no need of repentance”(Lk 15:1-7). That’s what Jesus told the people. They should
have known that many more than just a few are saved.
A multitude no one could
count
November
1st is the Feast of All Saints. Its first reading from the Book of Revelation
liturgically answers the question whether only a few be saved on the last day? “I, John, heard the number of those who had
been marked with the seal of the living God—one hundred and forty-four thousand
marked from every tribe of the children of Israel….After this I looked and
there before me stood a great multitude that no one could count from every
nation, tribe and language… (Rev 7:4, 9). The gospel for the feast also answers the question
will only a few be saved on the last day? Its litany of beatitudes declares as blessed and
saved the poor and the hungry of this world. It declares as blessed and saved
all those who mourn and all those who make peace. That, indeed, is a multitude
which no one can count (Mt 5:1-12).
Conclusion
A multitude no one could
count
Will only a few be saved on
the last day? Who is right? The
Calvinist preacher who claimed that only ten out of his hundred parishioners were
saved? Or is John Murray right? Flabbergasted by the thought that the
compassionate Jesus
was overshadowed by an image of God who proves his absolute power by exercising
it arbitrarily, he moved to the other side of the spectrum. He declared that all are saved.
In your moments of self-doubt or guilt or fear of your sins and
mistakes, don’t feed upon the gloom of a doom’s day preacher. Instead, quicken
yourself with the optimism of a John Murray. He is more in harmony with the
compassionate Jesus. He is more in harmony
with the gospel which is good news. (Only ten out of a hundred isn’t good news,
but a hundred out of a hundred is!) Quicken yourself with