In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Today as you probably know, St George’s celebrated the Harvest Festival. We had a great service here this morning giving thanks to God for his provision for us, and remembering the needy of our world. But as well as celebrating the actual harvest, the Church also uses harvest as a metaphorical tool for talking about salvation, and themes of judgement. The third verse of Come Ye Thankful People Come reminds us;
For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.
And so, with those rather worrying words ringing in our ears, and with Luke 13 in mind, I think it might be appropriate for us this evening to think about our salvation, and just what it is that Christ has done for us.
The theology of salvation is extremely complicated, and can be difficult for us to understand within the wider meta-narrative of Scripture. I consider myself in the Universalist camp, whereby I think that everyone has been granted salvation through Christ, rather than an elect few. I can’t reconcile a loving, seeking God with a theology that says some are destined for weeping and gnashing of teeth. And yet there, in black and white, Luke 13:28, it is. Other complications crop up; for example Ken Kendrick and I profoundly disagree, in friendly terms, about how and why we are saved, and what Jesus was doing on the cross. Within Scripture itself, St. Paul and St. James the Great seem at odds with each other about our justification. I must admit that the more I explore the subject of salvation and the afterlife, the more I am moved to adopt the Eastern Orthodox position and proclaim sheepishly- “its just a mystery”. That approach doesn’t really sit very well with our Western scientific mindset, but it does go some way to stopping all the confusion at least.
As confusing as it might be, we can, however, learn three things about our salvation from our reading from Luke this evening.
Firstly, we learn that the door to heaven is very narrow. Christ tells us; many will try and get through, but not all will be successful. Indeed, there are many things that help to make the door even narrower. Wealth, power and worldly status can all serve to make the door to Christ’s home even more difficult to get through. Jesus tells us; it is more difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich to get into heaven. Interestingly, I have recently discovered that the “eye of a needle” doesn’t refer to a sewing needle, but rather a small door within a much bigger one that people could pass through. They still have one or two of those in Durham. Whilst the little door would see daily use, if a rich man came on his camel or donkey, the whole door had to be opened. So Jesus is here once again linking wealth and salvation rather than anything else. A rich person can try and try to get through the eye of the needle on his camel, but it just isn’t going to happen. He or she is going to have to get off, and put their wealth aside, in order to get through the door. We too must do likewise, and put aside those things which hinder our ability to live according to God’s Word.
Secondly, we learn that lip service to Christ is not enough. When the master turns away the people at the door in our parable, they cry “but we ate and drank with you, and were there when you were preaching in the streets”. But the master disowns them. It’s all very well for us to claim that we come to church and hear the bible read aloud, but unless we accept the call of God in our hearts, unless we let our Christian experience transform us, then in many ways it is all for nothing. It’s a sad fact that one or two of the nastiest people I have met in life have been in churches. Time and again clergy come across people who have left the church because someone has been insensitive or needlessly unkind to them. As Rowan Atkinson recently pointed out, people unfortunately sometimes come across such clergy too. The Gospel message needs to transform our lives in practice, not just in theory, if Christ is to recognise us at his door.
Finally, we learn that heaven, fundamentally, is going to be fantastic. Jesus tells us; people will come from east and west, north and south, to join in the great banquet in God’s heavenly home. That beatific vision is in many ways what keeps us going through life; the sure and certain hope that we will one day see God face to face. If you want to catch a glimpse of that eternal glory, simply read the book of Revelation, which illustrates both the beauty of God’s presence and also the inability of human words and constructs to express it. We likewise catch a glimpse of eternity at the Eucharist, when we come to share in the timeless meal of the Church. When we step back and consider what it actually means that we are destined to share in the presence of God’s glory, its possibilities transcend our humanity; through participating in the Eucharist, we become for a moment what we are going to be. It really is good news that we have been given; the best news we have ever been given, in fact.
Ultimately, when we consider Luke 13, and the other stories of Christ in the Gospels, it becomes clear that the detailed nature of our salvation, arguments about how we are saved, the theological constraints of the atonement and the like, are actually comparatively unimportant in our everyday lives. What is more relevant is that fact that Jesus has opened to us all the door of eternal life. It is a narrow door, and one which is hindered by many things in this life. The question is whether we are willing to try our very hardest step through it.Amen.