Context No. 3712 of 4322 · Luke

Luke 13:20-30: in context

20Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? 21It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” 22He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem. 23One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them, 24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. 29They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom. 30Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last.”

Asked whether only a few will be saved, Jesus does not give a number but a challenge: strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will seek to enter and will not be able. There is urgency here; entering the kingdom is not automatic or casual but requires earnest striving.

And he warns of a shut door, of those who assumed they were in, we ate and drank in your presence, you taught in our streets, but to whom the master says, I do not know where you come from. Mere familiarity with Jesus, hearing him, being near him, is not the same as truly belonging to him. But then comes a wide vision: people will come from east and west, north and south, and recline at the feast in God's kingdom, and some who are last will be first. The door is narrow, requiring genuine faith, but it opens to a vast gathering from every corner of the earth. The point is not to count the saved but to make sure we are truly among them.

Am I truly entering through the narrow door by genuine faith, not merely presuming on familiarity with Jesus, and striving to be sure I belong to him?

Sources

Luke 13:24: "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able."
Luke 13:27: "I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity."
Luke 13:29: "They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God's Kingdom."