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 …….. Luke 13.22-30
“I do not know you ……I do not know where you come from”. There is gold in those words. Powerful insights into human nature and into ourselves.
“I do not know you ……” You and I live in an increasingly shallow society. We bump into someone briefly, and say we know them. We see but a few frames of the movie of their life and we think we know their whole story.
We have more and more shallow encounters in our life, and fewer and fewer deeply sharing relationships. We are also becoming increasingly disconnected from each other. Friendships have become measured by the encounters on the Go Train, or by passing time with other parents as our children or grandchildren attend drama or dance or sports activities. And if you don’t have a friend, then you can rent one, online. $10 an hour.
Technology isn’t helping us in this regard either. Just go out for dinner and look around. How many people do you see sitting with others at the table for dinner, looking at their smartphones. They are absent to those present, and present to those absent. We read someone’s posting on Facebook and we “like” them. We read two of their postings and we “friend” them. Liking and befriending have become throw-away words in a society that just as easily and readily throws away relationships.
For those of us who have been around for a while, we know that this is not what being in relationship is about. When we have been in relationship with someone – we know where that someone is coming from. We know their journey. It’s ups and downs. We have spend a lot of time listening to each other. We spend time talking to each other, sharing who we are, sharing our life’s stories. We reveal ourselves to the other, warts and all. And through those many interactions, we begin, in a small way, to understand them. And they begin to understand us. We begin to get to know them.
That’s what our Gospel today is all about.
God is saying – I want you to really get to know me. Not just know about me. Not just briefly encounter me every so often. I want you to really get to know me. And not for my sake, but for yours. Because the door is narrow and not all will get through. And as much as I want you to spend eternity with me, the choice is entirely yours. That’s what free will is all about. You get to choose. The message from today’s Gospel – a message found in Matthew and Mark and Luke …. is that you and I are called to make a choice. A choice to know God, not just know about God. Make the choice … Be in relationship with God. Spend time with God each day. Talking. Listening. Get to know God. Spend time each day seeing God’s presence in all of creation, especially your sisters and brothers. Spend time each day, allowing God to have the opportunity to touch your heart. Spend time each day making lasting investments in the hearts and souls of others. Spend time each day making God your friend. Then you will know where God comes from – and God will know where you come from.
And he will say “I do know you ……I do know where you come from….”
And that door won’t be so narrow.