Save Yourselves

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, August 24th, 2025:
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Luke
13.22-30

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

Jesus said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

“When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

“Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But the Lord will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’

“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I have a priest friend who told me that from time to time, someone will ask him why he doesn’t preach during Masses on the sin of homosexuality (or some other sin) and Father will respond, “Why? Is that a sin you struggle with?”

When someone suggests a hot-button homily topic, it’s almost never a sin that person personally struggles to conquer. This is human nature: if I suggest a sin I don’t struggle with, I can make it sound as if I am concerned for the other person. And though I am certainly concerned about the souls of others, more honestly I might suggest such a thing to keep the attention off my sin and deflect it onto my neighbour.

The question asked to Jesus in today’s gospel feels like that sort of thing to me. The person who asked if “only a few [will] be saved” may have been concerned for the salvation of all, of himself, or of certain others; but I always read that question as if it is meant to focus on “other people”—the ones who will not be saved.

The response Jesus gives to the question of who will be saved sounds pretty ominous. It is a narrow way and many will try to enter but cannot, and there will come a time when people try to enter and will be told “I do not know you.” Does anyone else get nervous about that sort of response or is it just me?

So, what am I to do with a reading like this one? 

I need to recognize the call to holiness is for me and I can only work out my own salvation, by the grace of God. This does not mean that I am not called to share the gospel and evangelize others; in fact it is the exact way I am called to share the gospel and evangelize. I am called to be a light to the world; it is the witness I give that will draw others to the Lord. 

How do I know this? When I was a teenager, I attended my very first retreat. I could not tell you exactly what the retreat team said, but I can tell you that at the end of the retreat my prayer to God was: “Lord, I want what they have.” What they had was a loving relationship with the Him. I saw in them the light I didn’t know I needed and wanted. 

This is the narrow way: to be love for those who do not have it. Saint John of the Cross said, “Where there is not love, put love; then you will find love there.” I am called to live a faith life that will have others asking, “What is it about that person that I am drawn to?” The answer should be Love.




Sr. Teresa MacDonald

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