Dear friends in Christ.
For quite a number of years the Mankato Clinic, the clinic in Mankato connected to ISJ, had a special play room just for children. It was a little room in which the tables, chairs, and bookshelves were all the perfect height for children. The acoustically tiled ceiling was set at a mere 7’ tall, making the room feel especially cozy and perfectly proportional for the children who played in there. The length of the room was approximately as long as one of our benches, from armrest to armrest, while the width of the room covered an area similar to that of the front of the front bench to the back of the fourth bench. There was a window on each of the short ends of the room and a door in the very middle of one of the long walls. But while this door was very easy for children to pass through, when it came to the adults who were often invited by their children to come into the room, entering through that narrow door took a little bit of an effort. As it was, the door was only about 4 ½ feet tall and 3 ½ feet wide, so when adults tried to enter, it took a little extra effort. It was always fun to watch parents putting forth the effort to enter that narrow door. Some would duck, while others would simply crouch. Some would squat down and sort of scuttle in sideways, while others would get down on all fours and crawl in. Personally, I found that squatting down and sort of scuttling in sideways was the best solution. However, at that point in my life, I had a greater girth than I do now, and often times sliding my belly through the door took a greater amount of effort than I expected. Yet, for every parent that made the effort to enter that room, the reward of seeing their children’s faces light up with delight at their presence was worth the effort.
Well, in the same way that so many parents, myself included, made every effort to enter into that children’s play room through an incredibly narrow door, so also Jesus, our Savior, is calling on each and every one of us to make every effort to enter the kingdom of heaven through the narrow door, which is standing open for us! This, in fact is the very exhortation that Jesus is making in our Lesson today from Luke 13:22-30. Turn with me, if you would, to Luke 13:22-30. Now, while you’re looking that up, let me give you an interesting tidbit of information. The first thing that Luke is going to tell us in our lesson today is that Jesus was traveling through the towns and villages and teaching the people on his way to Jerusalem. Now, you might remember how we heard Luke mention something like this before. In fact, it was about two months ago, when Luke recorded how Jesus resolutely set his face to travel to Jerusalem, thus beginning the last six months of his earthly ministry. As Luke mentions it again in 13:22, he is not only reminding us of where Jesus is now and giving us the background for what is following, he also seems to be dividing what he recorded between Chapter 9:51 and Chapter 18:30 in to two parts. He may even be indicating that we are now passing into the last 3 months of Jesus’ earthly ministry. I don’t know if that is what he is trying to do, but if it is, it makes sense why Jesus is so intently and passionately calling on each and every one of us to make every effort to enter the kingdom of heaven through the narrow door! Luke tells us, beginning with verse 22: “Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” (Luke 13:22-24, NIV)
Did you hear the intensity and the passion in Jesus’ voice? Make every effort to enter through the narrow door! Now, if you took a look at that phrase in the Greek language, you would find that the verb Jesus used was “agonidzomai”. Agonidzomai is the very verb from which we get our English word, “agony” and “agonize”. This is the very word that Paul used in 1 Corinthians 9:25 when he described the competitors in the games and how they would undergo strict training so that they could be the victors. This is the same Word that Paul used in 2 Timothy 4:7 as he said his farewell proclaiming that he had fought the good fight and done everything he could to proclaim the gospel. This, in fact, was the very same word that Jesus used in John 18:36 as he stood before Pilate and told him that if Jesus’ kingdom was of this world his servants would fight to prevent his arrest. In other words, his servants would make every effort to free Jesus, just as Paul had made every effort to serve the Lord and athletes went into strict training so that they could make every effort to win the race.
This is the very thing that Jesus is calling on each and every one of us to do! He is calling on us to make every effort and push every muscle and nerve as far as it can go and then just a little farther to make certain that we are able to enter the kingdom of heaven through that narrow door while it is still open, because the time will come when it will no longer be open. Take a look at verse 24 again. Jesus says, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13:24–30, NIV)
Make every effort to enter through the narrow door! Not only is this Jesus’ exhortation to us, this is his warning to us as well! He is warning us to make the most of our time of grace and enter now, rather than waiting until it is too late; for the truth is, unless we enter while we can we will be barred outside of the kingdom of heaven, forever. Though we know that the door to the kingdom of heaven will be completely shut to all people on the last day, the Lord has also closed that door for a time when his longsuffering patience comes to an end for any nation or any individual. This was the very thing that happened to the Jews in 70 AD when the Romans came in and destroyed Jerusalem. This is the very thing that happened to the 7 cities listed in the book of Revelation. This is the very thing that has happened in nations like Germany, France, England, and many other European nations. Though at one time these were strongholds of God’s Word and the message of the Gospel, the gospel has run its course and like a passing shower has moved on to a new place. Though the Gospel, which was once so prevalent in these countries, has come to America, how much longer will we be privileged to proclaim it? How much longer will we be blessed with God’s patience? How much longer will he allow our country to snub him before he closes the doorway to heaven and sends his gospel on to another stronghold in another nation? We don’t know! That is why our Savior is so passionately calling on each and every one of us to make every effort to enter into the kingdom of heaven through the narrow door!
But how do we do that! It’s not like we can just walk up to that narrow door, squat down, and scuttle through on into the kingdom of heaven! Rather, we enter through that narrow door, as Freshman College Religion Professor explained, by living in the Word and Sacraments. We enter by means of sorrow over our sins and repentance for them. This is the strenuous effort or the struggle that we face on a daily basis. This is the struggle that Luther described as he explained the meaning of baptism. He wrote, “It means that our old self with its evil deeds and desires should be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and die and that day by day the new self should arise, as from the dead, to live in the presence of God in righteousness and purity now and forever.”
This is where you and I are! Through faith in Jesus, we have entered the kingdom of heaven through that narrow door. Through faith in Jesus, our lives are now hidden with God. Through faith in Jesus, we know that our Old Self has been drown along with its evil deed and desires, and we now seek to live in the presence of God. The problem is, however, that satan is constantly trying to win us back to his way of thinking. He is constantly enticing us to squeeze back through that narrow doorway and meet with him in the living room of temptation, where we can sit in the lazy boy of our favorite sins, prop our feet up and just relax before his plasma screen of worldly enjoyments instead of making all that effort to squeeze through such a narrow doorway into the kingdom of God!
This is why our Savior is passionately calling on us to make every effort to enter through the narrow door by taking every opportunity to hear his word as it is proclaimed to us. He is calling on us to take time out of our busy schedules to read and study his word for ourselves, to meditate on it and to pray about it. He is calling on us to make every effort to live our lives according to his will rather than according to our own feelings. He is calling on us to turn to him in repentance whenever we find that we have grown weary and have sat for a time in the easy chair of our sins, and he is assuring us that when we turn to him in repentance he will forgive us. He will shower us with his blood, dress us in the robes of his righteousness, and lead us once again through that narrow door which leads into the kingdom of heaven.
Knowing this; knowing all that our Savior has done and still does for us to help us make every effort to enter through the narrow door, it is clear that our Savior has also called us to help each other make every effort to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is clear that our Savior is calling on us to share our faith with others so that they too, might know, all that Jesus has done for them. It is our mission to share our faith and encourage our brothers and sisters who have simply stopped struggling to enter the narrow door and have drifted away from our fellowship here. It is our mission to speak to them, encourage them, assure them of our love and their Savior’s love for them so that they might once again begin to make every effort to enter the kingdom of heaven before the Lord closes that door for good.
So do just that! As you strive and struggle, sorrowing over your own sins, repenting and seeking to live in our Savior’s Word, continue to pray for those who have left our fellowship. Pray that the Lord would lead them to return. Pray that the Lord would give you opportunity to speak to them. Pray that the Lord would bless your efforts, so that when you do meet them, you can encourage them and invite them back so that they too can continue with us, striving to enter the kingdom of heaven. For the truth is, in the same way that every parent saw that their struggle to enter that little children’s room was worth all the effort of passing through the narrow door, so also when our Lord calls us home to his heavenly kingdom, we will see that every moment of our struggle and our effort to enter through the narrow door of the kingdom of heaven will have been worth it too.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
