March 17 | Luke 13:22-30

Pastor Dave Mann
Mar 17, 2025
2 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

A Hard Word

By Dave Mann

This is a hard passage. This is one of those difficult sections that I tend to skip over rather quickly to get to something more pleasant. If I were to list the Bible passages on my Least Favorite list, this would be near the top.

I prefer to have a Jesus who is nice and polite. But since I claim to be a follower of Jesus, maybe I should give even the hard verses a serious listen-to. Here are the words that make these verses hard for me. What does Jesus have to say about the number of people who will be saved on the last day?

Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. (v. 24)
Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ (v. 25)
There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. (v. 28)

Well, those aren’t very kind and gentle words, are they?

God is loving, right? But something in my heart says, “He is also holy, right?” OK. I also need to embrace the many Scriptures that describe our God as holy, magnificent, highly exalted, and coming with authority to judge -- 1 Chronicles 29:11; Isaiah 5:16; 6:1-5; 29:13; 52:10; Matthew 5:48; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 19:15.

If I am honest there are times when I would say in response to the narrow gate imagery of Jesus, “How can this be? Who could ever rejoice with such a thought?” However, the more we sinners are in alignment with the true God (as revealed in Scripture) -- who is holy and loving, who requires that nothing impure should enter into his presence, who suffered and died that I might be in his holy presence -- the deeper that my appreciation grows for the gift of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross -- the gift of eternal life, the gift of imputed righteousness, the gift of being clothed in Christ! I finally realize that our holy Lord is indeed loving.

PRAYER

O holy Lord, there will come the day I stand in your judgment. I know that by myself I will have no basis to withstand your penetrating, all-knowing gaze. The only way I will survive that day is to be in Christ. On my own, I would certainly be excluded. Nevertheless, because of Jesus’ righteousness, I will be eternally grateful to be in your presence forever, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE MANN

I am a Pastor for Internationals (retired) in the UALC community. I am married to Pam, father of four, and grandfather of six. Pam and I have lived twenty of our years in other countries including France, Cameroon, Haiti, and Morocco. In retirement, we continue to enjoy writing devotionals, learning languages, and teaching English to internationals.

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