Twenty-first Sunday of the Year C

Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.  Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” 
· Jesus focuses the question not on how may are to be saved, but on the individual who should be concerned whether he/she will be saved.
· What are you doing consciously to respond to the grace of salvation offered you by Jesus through his death and resurrection? Is salvation a focus of your life?

He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 
“Salvation depends first on God’s grace, then on our cooperation and obedience. Jesus here stresses the difficulties of the spiritual life, where few will enter God’s glory while the door remains open.”

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. 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 where you are from.  Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ 
· How do you apply this to your life right now? Is knowing Jesus or being his disciples enough?
· What more is Jesus asking of us?
· Is there an urgency in Jesus’ message? Since we do not know when the door will be shut, how should we respond?
· The four words we don’t want God to say to us are: “I don’t know you!”
· In another Gospel Jesus says, “It is not those who say, Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.”
· What is the narrow gate Jesus is talking about? Is it the same as the narrow road that few travel?
o The impenitent will be shut out from God’s blessings..

And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.  For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” 
· Jesus is speaking to his own people, the Jews. He is indicating that others—the non-Jews—will respond to his message and experience the life God. Some of the Jews became complacent about their relationship with God. Have we become complacent?
· How do we apply this to ourselves and others?