The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 318: The Narrow Gate, the Lost Sheep, and the Prodigal Son (2024)
Wed, 13 Nov
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Fr. Mike confronts the hard truth Jesus preaches in today's readings: Many people will ultimately choose hell over heaven. While this can be deeply distressing, Fr. Mike reminds us to focus on Jesus's directive to each one of us: "[You] Strive to enter through the narrow gate." In the second part of today's commentary, Fr. Mike reflects on two of Jesus' most well-known parables: the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Prodigal Son. Today's readings are Luke 13-16 and Proverbs 26:10-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the narrow gate?
There you will weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. And men will come from east and west and from north and south and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last. the lament over Jerusalem.
At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you, how often would I gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not. Chapter 14 Jesus Heals the Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.
And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus spoke to the lawyers and the Pharisees saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they were silent. Then he took him and healed him and let him go. And he said to them, Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day? And they could not reply to this.
Humility and Hospitality
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, Give place to this man, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher. then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
He said also to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
The parable of the great banquet When one of those who sat at table with him heard this, he said to him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time of the banquet he sent his servants to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses.
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Chapter 2: Why do people choose hell over heaven?
the parable of the prodigal and his brother. And he said, There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that falls to me. And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in loose living.
And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.
But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to make merry.
Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go in.
His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. Chapter 16 The Parable of the Dishonest Steward He also said to the disciples, There was a rich man who had a steward, and chargers were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
And he called him and said to him, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. And the steward said to himself, what shall I do? Since my master is taking the stewardship away from me, I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.
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Chapter 3: What is the meaning of the parable of the Lost Sheep?
And yet Jesus makes it very, very clear that that is a real possibility, not even a distant possibility. Because Jesus says, this is the narrow gate. And later on, another gospel, he says, the road is wide that leads to destruction and many are on it. But the road to eternity, the road to eternal life with God is narrow.
And he goes on to say, you know, there are people who will say, Lord, open the door to us. And I think Matthew's gospel, he says, many will say, Lord, Lord. And he said, I will not know you. I will only know those who do the will of my father.
So that's why we always keep going back to this truth that a saint or someone in heaven is the kind of person who says yes to God and then just never stops saying yes to God. That's so critical. It's so key. It's so important for every one of us. But what do we do? You know, because this reality of hell can be something that, deters people from striving for heaven.
What I mean by that is, it's not even the fact that I could choose hell, not even the fact that I could lose heaven, but it's the idea that other people might not choose heaven, that other people might choose hell, that distracts us and gets us off our track. So what does Jesus say? His very first word spoken to the person who asks, Lord, will those who are saved be few? His first word is strive.
In fact, it's not just strive. The Greek word isn't, the Greek imperative, you strive. So the big question, will many be saved or will few be saved? He says, listen, you strive, you strive to enter through the narrow gate.
This is so absolutely critical because yes, while we love everyone and we're interested, we want everyone to come to know the love of God in Jesus Christ and be saved through the church, that sacrament of salvation, right? The church that God has given to us. Yet we can't allow, and I can't allow, none of us can allow the reality that others will not choose to be saved to deter us.
So Jesus says, you strive, you strive. At the same time, he races after us. I mean, this is the crazy thing is not only are we called to strive, but we are relentlessly pursued by God. And so in chapter 15, this is what I want to kind of end with, even though it might be a little bit longer explanation.
In chapter 15, tax collectors and sinners are drawing near to Jesus, and the Pharisees are complaining. And it says this. It says, so he told them this parable. So the people are complaining that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners.
He tells them three parables, the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal and his brother, which I like in the Great Adventure Bible has that title, the parable of the prodigal and his brother, because it's not just simply the parable of the prodigal son. It's also about the older brother. In fact, it's also about the father.
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