21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C (2025)

Have you ever been asked, “Are you saved?” As Catholics, it’s not a phrase we tend to use and so we’re usually unsure of how to answer. But the question of who will be saved—that is, who will live eternally with God in the Kingdom—has surely run through the mind of everyone here, whether it’s regarding yourself or your deceased loved ones.

A similar question is posed in today’s Gospel, from a man who approaches Jesus, as he was going through towns and villages, on his way to Jerusalem. Along the way he was teaching people what God’s Kingdom will be like and what we must do to be part of it. The man, most likely a fellow Jew, asked, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus’s response indicates that the man is asking the wrong question, that the question should have been, “How is one saved?” He said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”.

It’s narrow, in the sense of what it demands of us. Jesus calls it a cross that we must accept and carry. All this tells us that we should not expect it to be easy, nor should we be lazy—it’s dying to oneself, it’s sacrificial love. It demands an intentional decision to follow Jesus and to get to know him. Another way to say it is that we are saved by God’s grace, but that gift of grace demands our response, and to allow it to be alive in us.

But as his answer also makes clear, it’s narrow in the sense that not everyone will be saved. There will be some who believe they would enter and, it’s as though he would look at them, and say, “Yes I realize that you ate and drank with me, that you had “X” number of years of Catholic schooling, that you occasionally prayed the rosary^[1], and that you tried to be a “good person”. But the problem…I do not see myself in your soul”^[2].

But back to the question of “will only a few people be saved?”, for many of Christians, there's a tendency to presume that they and everyone they loved will be saved. That’s not what Jesus is saying today. I remember a friend of mine arguing that God loves all of us too much to not save us all. It’s true that God loves us and wants us to live with Him forever, but we must also understand that God gives us freewill to decide if we want Him. The fact is, some people don’t want life with Him, and no one will be forced into heaven against their will.

And further, I think about our tendency when someone we know dies, to declare that they are already in heaven, doing their favorite activity, in the presence of their favorite people, looking down at us. I believe our tendency to say that it is to comfort ourselves, but it's a disservice to our deceased loved ones. To presume they are already in heaven, means that they do not need our prayers any longer. Instead, we must pray for our loved ones, praying them through the narrow gate.

So back to the question, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” We don’t know who will and who won’t. We know neither how many will enter nor how many will not. We know that God’s desires us to be there, so much that he was willing to suffer greatly for it. I believe he would ask us: Will you be grateful for that sacrifice and love it so much that it shapes your life? Or is that too much to ask? Or do you assume you’re already saved?

^[1] Bergsma, John. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C (p. 473). Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

^[2] Kreeft, Peter. Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings (Cycle C) (Food for the Soul Series Book 3) (p. 612). Word On Fire. Kindle Edition.