How Many and Who will be Saved?

SABBATH

 

The question of who and how many will be saved has haunted Jews and Christians alike throughout the centuries. I hear this question sometimes in the confessional, sometimes in the classroom. For the Jews, the answer was easy: Jews will be saved, Gentiles not. When a Jew asked Jesus whether few or many would be saved, he must have expected Jesus to say, “Don’t worry, all Jews will be saved.” It must have shocked him when Jesus destroyed such a simple, false position and did not give any number. In effect He told the man, “God does not have a quota. Don’t be so sure about being saved because you are a Jew. There will be no mass promotion and general amnesty for the Chosen People. What counts in the end does not depend on who you are here on earth. It all depends on your effort to enter heaven.” This story has been re-told many times: A man enters heaven and sees many palaces and thinks the angel would bring him to one of them. But the angel brought him to a miserable shed as we find them in slums. “That’s your home now,” he told the shocked man. “But why here and not in one of those big houses?” the man asked. “Because that’s all the material you have sent up during your lifetime; we could not construct a big house with it,” the angel explained. Many Catholics are also too sure of salvation because they were baptized and go to Mass on Christmas, receive the ashes on Ash Wednesday, and recite an occasional prayer when in need of something. It might be that many “from east and west, from north and south” will be saved. What does that mean? It might be that some Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, prostitutes and street sweepers “take their places at the feast in the Kingdom of God” instead of some baptized Christians. Shocking? Yes. It’s as shocking to us as it was shocking to the Jew who asked Jesus how many would be saved. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD   Reflection Question: Do I show personal effort to “enter heaven by the narrow door?” Do I show compassion and love especially towards those in need?   Lord, I felt too sure of my salvation because I go to Mass and attend the Wednesday novena. But how much material, deeds of mercy and love do I send to heaven for my eternal home? I realize — not enough.   St. Lucian, pray for us.