They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last

 

 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."  

And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  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 yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last." 

 

- Luke 13:18-30 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."  The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite!  Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.   

 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."   My study bible comments here that the mustard plant grows to a height of about ten feet in Palestine.   Up until now, in recent readings, Jesus' focus has been on our loyalty to God before all other things, and on seeking the Kingdom first in our worldly lives, and participation and communion in that Kingdom.  But here, Jesus gives us a great parable, in so few words, about the explosive growth that happens.  It is, in fact, in the context of yesterday's reading (above), a testimony about grace and how grace works.  Just as God's mercy is not limited or measured in response to our own investment of faith, so is the growth of the Kingdom in this illustration.  This parable can be understood as the small amount of faith, invested in the soul, becoming a tree of virtue so great that even angels can come and nest in it.  Theophylact has understood the mustard seeds as representing the disciples, who began as just a few men, but "soon encompassed the whole earth."

And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."   There are many occasions in Scripture in which leaven is used as a metaphor for a bad influence (such as when Jesus tells the disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy"; see Luke 12:1-3).  But here, Jesus uses "leaven" as an image of the kingdom of God and the way that it grows in us and among us, in the same way that leaven (or yeast) permeates the whole.  The previous parable of the mustard seed teaches us about great and unexpected growth from the tiniest source or influence;  here Jesus speaks of the grand influence on the whole of a person the small amount of faith has to "leaven" our entire lives, to permeate our souls.

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."  In Matthew's report of this saying (Matthew 7:13-14), we get a description of the two ways or paths from which we choose, for life or death.  This was common in Judaism (Deuteronomy 30:15-20: Psalm 1; Proverbs 4:17-18, 12:28, 15:21; Wisdom of Sirach 15:17).  But here in Luke, the saying is once again, like so much in our recent readings, given by Jesus in the context of the end of the age.  It is a warning about the time of judgment.  My study bible comments that because we wrestle against sins and human weaknesses as well as spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12), to enter the Kingdom is the more difficult, narrow way.

"When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  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 yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God."  Jesus clearly My study bible comments here that neither verbal confessions (Lord, Lord) nor sacramental experiences avail anything unless we live the works of faith (see Luke 6:46-49).  That they will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, together with all the prophets gives us the eschatological understanding of Jesus' preaching.

"And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."  My study bible cites the commentary of Theophylact, who sees the first who becomes last as not only faithless Jews, but also those in the Church who"from infancy have put on Christ and have been taught the Word, but who become last by transgressing against it."  

Today's reading again gives us the context of the final judgment, of the eschaton.  This is apt, one feels, as Jesus is now clearly headed to Jerusalem, and preparing His disciples for the time that is to come, the time of the Church, which is also the time of the end.  In fact, in the historical tradition of the Church, all of the present time in which we await the return of our Savior is the entire "end time."  And so, as Jesus is clearly journeying toward Jerusalem, as the text tells us, He continues to prepare the apostles -- and by extension, their successors -- who will rule the Church in His absence.  In Luke's expression of His teachings, it is the eschatological emphasis that is significant, as He prepares His followers to think in terms of the primary importance of thinking about serving God in light of the judgment that is to come in fulfillment of all things.  Let us remember that this is not something to think of as far, far into the future, but rather something present and real as it awaits all of us at the end of our worldly lives, and is clearly linked and based upon how we live our lives and what importance we attach to living the life of the Kingdom while we dwell here in this world.  If we keep in mind this overarching power of God, and the awareness of Christ's promise regarding a greater judgment that comes to the entirety of all those who live or have lived in this world, then we keep in mind a perspective necessary to exactly how we live our lives in this world.  The explosive and permeating growth of the Kingdom teaches us also about the choice to live this awareness of the Kingdom, and of the overarching understanding of our participation in it, and God's participation and grace in our lives.  It magnifies the importance of our choices, the essential quality of each moment of time and how precious our lives in this world are, for all is intermingled and tied to one another.  The eschatology speaks of the "time" when time itself will end, but it also reflects upon and magnifies the importance of our time in this world as well.  It means that what we do and choose, how we live in this world right now in our earthly lives, is also tied to the arc of an entire cosmos, to all of creation and God's action in it.  Christ reminds us that His plan for the salvation of the world, culminating in the Cross at Jerusalem, and His Resurrection and Ascension, is essentially a plan that magnifies and creates meaning for each moment:  nothing is wasted and all is precious.  Let us keep in mind just how precious our lives and our moments in time really are.