Today’s readings give the sense that the Kingdom of God will be crowded. In the Gospel, we hear “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God … come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.”

This idea of a crowded kingdom is seen in the the First Reading from Isaiah, “I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory … They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD.”

What is the population statistic of the kingdom to come? I do not think it matters since Jesus does not tell us directly. Instead Jesus gives the disciples a charge, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” He is telling the disciples, “Watch your feet, mind your own business, do not fall off the road that leads to glory.”

God gives us the gift of life. This gift is rich and is given once to every person. We must treasure this gift share God’s love through it. We owe God a great debt for the gift of life. What is that debt? The Father of Scholasticism, Saint Anselm, gives us an answer. He said,

If anyone asks the price that must be paid, the answer is: The One who wishes to bestow a kingdom in heaven has no need of earthly payment. No one can give God anything he does not possess, because everything belongs to him.Yet he does not give such a precious gift entirely gratis, for he will not give it to anyone who lacks love. After all, people do not give away what they hold dear to those without appreciation.

So since God has no need of your possessions but must not bestow such a precious gift on anyone who disdains to value it, love is the one thing he asks for; without this he cannot give it.

Give love, then, and receive the kingdom: love and it is yours.¹

Love is the one and only thing God asks of us. Jesus gives us this image of a narrow door because many claim to be part of the Church, but live life carelessly. Life must be lived intentionally. Life is not rooted in the romantic fuzzy feelings of religion. Life is rooted in cruciform love. The love of God changes us to be like Christ.

The Second Reading speaks about striving through discipline. We hear, “for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines.”² God loves us as a Father loves his children. Discipline is not about punishment. Discipline is our ability to be taught and trained and learning to do hard things and to endure hard things in life. We run to win the race, we train in the spiritual life to fight our battles with Christ as our shield. Heaven takes work, but with Christ and his mercy, we can reach it.

We train ourselves in a life of prayer, in the sacraments, going to Confession often. This is our training ground and how we strive through this life.

In the end of today’s passage, we hear Jesus’ provocative statement, “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”³ This calls to mind the Good Thief who won Paradise in the final moments of his life and Judas Iscariot who was referenced by Christ “it would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”⁴ When all is fulfilled, Heaven will be a surprise. No one knows the population statistic of the Kingdom. All we know is that we must strive, live virtue, imitate the life found in the Cross, and keep our eyes on Christ.

1. Anselm of Canterbury, Letter 112: Opera omnia III, 244-246, ed. Edith Barnecut. ↩︎
2. Hebrews 12:6 ↩︎
3. Luke 13:30 ↩︎
4. Matthew 26:24 ↩︎