The Gospel reading for Mass today continues with the section of Luke’s Gospel that is often called the Travel Narrative. This narrative spans nearly ten chapters of the Gospel and covers Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem, where he will give his life as a sacrificial offering on the Cross and accomplish his work of redemption. As Jesus is striving towards Jerusalem and contending with his opponents along the way, a person comes to him and asks him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus does not directly answer this question, but responds, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” The word “strive” works fine in this sentence; however, we can appreciate the full thrust of the Greek word from which it is translated if we look at it more closely. The word is “agonizomai,” which is related to the English word “agony.” It’s almost as if Our Lord is telling us to “Agonize to enter through the narrow gate,” which suggests a much greater struggle than simply striving to enter.
If we look at how this word is used in other places in Scripture, we see that it often refers to fighting or competition. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says to Pontius Pilate, “If my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight (agonizomai), that I might not be handed over to the Jews.” In the first letter to Timothy, St. Paul says, “Fight (agonizomai) the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” In the second letter to Timothy, Paul also says, “I have fought (agonizomai) the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Finally, in the letter to the Colossians, Paul says, “For this I toil, striving (agonizomai) with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me.” Seeing how this word is used elsewhere with such a strong connotation helps us to better understand Our Lord’s message today. Achieving salvation is not a passive exercise. We cannot simply sit back and allow the Lord to do all the work for our salvation without actively doing our part. Indeed, Christ has died once and for all so that we might be saved, yet salvation requires us to strive, to struggle, to fight, and even to agonize at times. To be clear, as St. Paul says to the Ephesians, our battle, our struggle, is not against flesh and blood. We are not fighting against our fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters, but against the “world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” The struggle, the fight for salvation is primarily a spiritual battle. Sometimes spiritual combat spills over into material reality, but that is not where the primordial fight occurs.
Each one of us must contend, even agonize, against the wickedness and sin that clings to our own hearts. We are indeed sanctified, purified, and strengthened by God’s grace, yet we must also contribute our own energies to the struggle for salvation. We are called to cooperate fully in this work of salvation. Some of the Jews at the time of Jesus took their identity as children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for granted and almost seemed to presume on the notion of being God’s beloved, chosen people. Yet Jesus says that once the master of the house closes and locks the door, some of those Jews might find themselves on the outside knocking and experiencing rejection, while the people they may have long despised, the Gentiles from the north, south, east, and west are able to come and enter the narrow gate. Likewise, Christians cannot simply appeal to their identity as Christians or as faithful Catholics and think that this is sufficient for salvation. Baptism is indeed necessary for salvation, yet it does us no good if we do not persevere in faith, hope, and charity. We need to strive not to fall back into our old ways of sin and allow God’s grace to transform us from the inside out, taking from our bodies our stony hearts and giving us natural hearts. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the outside of the house while those people we despise are able to enter.
As children of God who have been baptized, we cannot take our mere identity as Catholics for granted. We cannot say, “I encountered you Lord at Mass every day or every Sunday, you forgave my sins in the sacrament of penance, and I received your Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament,” and think that this is somehow a free ticket to enter through the narrow gate. We must continue to strive, to fight against this tendency towards sin within us, and to lift up and support our brothers and sisters who have fallen in battle, so that we might enter the narrow gate of salvation, who is Jesus Christ. The door is indeed open for all to enter, but we must do our part to strive, to struggle to enter, and to never give up hope. We ask Our Lady, especially during this month dedicated to the Holy Rosary, that she might grant us the grace to recognize our sinfulness for what it is, to turn away from it wholeheartedly, to become docile to the will of God in imitation of Our Blessed Mother, and to seek to do what is right and just in the eyes of the Lord.
– Fr. Matthew Mary, MFVA