Lord, will only a few be saved?

Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He 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 he 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.” Luke 13:23-30

Hard not to hear heaven and hell in this passage, the sanctified and the damned; I see the whole "Left Behind" franchise. I feel the cold sweats that awakened me in the middle of the night as a teenager, terrified that Jesus had come again, and I had been left, baby, left.

Whew. Let's all take a deep breath. Our good friends at the Bible Workbench point out that the Greek word sozo, translated here as "saved", has many meanings. It can mean: rescue, liberate, keep from harm, heal, bring out safely, preserve, free from disease, and free from demon possession. The same word is used in several healing stories: the man with the withered hand and the woman with the flow of blood, saving Jairus' daughter, and the blind man.

They ask us to ask put ourselves in the place of this anonymous asker, and think what we might mean if we asked, "Lord, will only a few be saved?"

There's so much pain in the world, so much suffering. There are wonderful moments of healing and liberation, but sometimes they seem very sparse. How many live in poverty? How many live with violence all around them, and little hope of peace? I try to look for signs of hope in our economic crisis, and I see people losing their homes, their jobs, their dreams, their chance to retire after years of faithful, hard work.

I think the disciples were attracted to Jesus because in his presence they could be a healing force in the world. And they must have seen the limitations to what they could do. We helped this many. But look at how many more there are. Lord, look how few are saved. The question is really a lament.

Jesus' answer doesn't just gloss this over, either. He could have said to 'focus on the positive' and look at the good, the progress. But I think his answer joins the lament - yes, there are few people we can save. But strive to enter through the narrow door, anyway. Go out still and "save" people, bring them to wholeness when you can. Cherish the ability to even save one. And weep for those who will remain lost.