Why this homily matters?
Do you really hope that for the salvation of all people. If there is not a lot of people in hell, then it doesn’t really matter that I get to heaven. It’s almost like heaven is an exclusive country club for insiders only. Who we exclude affects the value of the membership as much as who we include.
If there are so many people in hell, would it make your getting to heaven more rewarding?
We should not underestimate the greatness of God’s mercy for our sakes let alone others. If we are trying to be like Christ, then why should we limit our love.
Key Points
Someone asks Jesus the question, “How many will be saved?”. He responds, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate.”
Does Hell Exist?
The doctrine of hell is a corollary of two more fundamental doctrines, namely, that God is love and that we’re free.
God is love. That’s all God is. All God knows how to do is love. He wills the good of the other.
In our freedom, therefore, we can respond to that love or we can resist it. When we resist it, we experience suffering.
Tradition uses all kinds of metaphors for this. Fire is a key one. In other words, the fiery pain that comes from resisting God’s love. Dante uses the opposite metaphor. Ice that freezes us and isolates us. Ice that makes us miserable.
For example, look at the image of Satan buried in the ice in the “Divine Comedy.”
Does hell exist? Haven’t we all been there at one point in our lives. So, the suffering that comes from resisting God’s love, It begins there.
Now is anyone in that eschatological hell? A definitive place where someone resists God’s love completely. Resists from the very ground and root of one’s own being forever and ever always. Well, the honest answer is, we don’t know.
Do we Know Anyone is in Hell?
The Church has canonized certain people. This means it recognizes that a person is in heaven. But there isn’t an opposite move. There isn’t a kind of canonization for those who are in hell.
What about Stalin, Hitler and Mao? Even with these people, do we have a godlike grasp of what’s going on? Do we completely understand their minds, wills and consciences? Can we say absolutely for sure there wasn’t even a little ounce of regret or contrition in those people? We don’t know that. Which is why the Church, therefore, doesn’t pronounce definitively that people are in hell. So, we hope God saves all people.
Don’t conflate hope with something like knowledge or expectation. Do we know God will save all people. ? Well, of course not. Nor do we expect the saving of all people. So hope is not the same as expectation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “in hope the Church prays for the salvation of all.”
Thomas Aquinas said that we only hope for difficult things. One hopes only for difficult things. Is it likely that God saves all people. Obviously not.
Look around at the world. Based on what you see in the world, does it strike you as likely that all people are entering by this narrow gate?
But hope is not based on human accomplishment. The hope is based upon what God has accomplished in Christ.
And so we hope for this difficult thing for the salvation of all people.
Do You View Heaven as a Country Club?
People vehemently react against the claim that we may even hope for the salvation of all . Some people even seem to take glee that there are so many people in hell.
Or people view that unless there are a lot of people in hell, then it doesn’t really matter that much that I get to heaven.
It’s almost like heaven is a country club. Who we exclude affects the value of the membership as much as who we include.
The Insiders of the Country Club – God’s Chosen People
We need to keep certain things in mind when Jesus responds if salvation is for a few only.
This is a Jew talking to another Jew. It’s a Jewish person, asking a Jewish teacher, in a very Jewish context.
So what does he mean? “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
Undoubtedly he’s thinking of the few Israelites who are:
- God’s chosen people.
- those privileged to receive the Law and the prophets
- those descendants of Abraham,
- those children of Moses and Aaron
- the inheritors of the covenant and the promise.
The implication here concerns those outside of Israel. Specifically the teeming masses of Gentiles who won’t have salvation. Isn’t it just the few of us insiders who will be saved?
Jesus continues. “After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking. You will say, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ And he will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from. But ‘we ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’”
Jesus Cautions Against Relying on Insider Country Club Status
This is an insider. This is an Israelite. Lord, I’m one of your own, I’m one of the chosen people. Of course I’m going to be let into the banquet.
Don’t think that your insider status will be enough to save you.
Have you striven to enter by the narrow gate, or are you relying on your sense of being an insider that belongs naturally in the country club?
Go a little further where Jesus continues. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. You see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. And yet, you yourselves are cast out.
And people will come from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south. These will recline at table in the kingdom of God.”
All these outsiders from east and west and north and south, that means Gentiles from all over the place.
And so, they’re taking their place at the banquet table.
Don’t Presume to Know the Limits of God’s Mercy and Who Will Be Admitted to the Country Club
Jesus is saying, expand your imagination. Above all, expand your sense of what is possible.
It’s a natural instinct to say that we insiders are the ones in the country club and everybody else is excluded.
In fact, that makes me feel more special, if I see that the mass of people is excluded.
But maybe it doesn’t work that way.
Maybe God’s generosity and God’s mercy extend way beyond what we can imagine.
Many expect only a tiny handful to be saved. For instance, this is the view of St. Augustine. There is a “massa damnata,” or a “damned mass,” which includes the vast majority of the human race. St Augustine viewed, therefore, that only a tiny handful will be saved.
The Lord is saying don’t play that game. Rather, let your hope expand to be as great as the mercy of God.
Maybe all sorts of people that you consider just hopeless outsiders could be saved. Additionally, maybe be surprised at how generous God is in his mercy.
And take the view that if you are surprised to see someone in heaven then be thankful of God’s great mercy.
In conclusion, perhaps our hope should correspond to the capaciousness of that mercy. Our hope should be that that country club in heaven is a bit more inclusive.
Suggested Homily
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/how-many-will-be-saved/id75551187?i=1000576262339
Scripture References
Isaiah 66:18-21
Psalms 117:1
2 Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Luke 13:22-30