Education in Faith
This week’s gospel passage picks up one of the major themes that runs throughout the gospel of Luke: the message of salvation is not reserved exclusively for the Jews, but is for all people; Jew and Gentile alike. A number of times in this gospel, the writer makes a point of having Jesus relate this controversial and fairly unpopular message to his audience. Today’s gospel makes clear that to gain salvation, you have to do more than just show up! Like those knocking on the locked door and claiming friendship, we can’t just turn up at the last minute and expect to be accepted. Salvation – entrance into the kingdom of God – belongs to those who accept the message of Jesus and act on it for the rest of their lives.
The gospel makes plain to the Jewish people of the time that unless they accept the message of Jesus and act upon it, they will get a terrible shock ('weeping and grinding of teeth') at the coming of the kingdom. Jesus tells his audience that people who are faithful to his message, even though they may be Gentile, will gain salvation before anyone who thinks they deserve it because of their birth or title. The kingdom must be earned through faithful effort, not by just turning up and claiming to be a believer.
To be Christian is more than a name; more than a title. We can’t all live like Jesus all of the time. However, we are called to take Jesus as our model of the Christian life and to use his example as a guiding beacon. To call ourselves Christian is to try to be Christ-like in all our actions.