Lk 13:22-30
22[Jesus] passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. 25After 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.’ 26And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
27Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ 28And 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. 29And 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. 30For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
RECLINE AT TABLE IN THE KINGDOM: In ancient times, when people gathered together at a banquet, they reclined on couches and were served food and drink. To recline together at table was a sign of intimacy and friendship.
Jesus warns those who think that entry into the kingdom is through “ascription,” that is, the assignment of status through kinship ties. They may be the chosen people, the children of Abraham, people with whom Jesus associates and to whom Jesus preaches the Gospel, but their salvation is not assured. Very early, through the words of John the Baptist, the people have been warned that their claim to privileged status via family heritage is no guarantee for being saved (cf Lk 3:8). Jesus’ parable places a measure of status not in ascription but in performance. The authentic response to Jesus’ “teaching in the streets” entails both hearing and doing. The true disciple is one who hears the word of God and puts it into practice, bearing the fruit of repentance and good deeds.
“Will only a few people be saved?” Jesus replies by picturing a multitude “from the east and the west and from the north and the south” reclining at the banquet in God’s kingdom. This refers to the ingathering of the Jews from the diaspora and even to the ingathering of the Gentiles. It paints a big number. Salvation is God’s gift freely given to the Israelites, and now to the Gentiles. Nobody has exclusive rights to it. But the entrance to the kingdom is narrow; it involves struggle. Struggle for the Jews primarily means welcoming the kingdom with gratitude and humility, instead of pinning their salvation simply on their ties with Abraham.