Will the Jews Be Saved?
In the little parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven, Jesus wants us to understand that we are not accurate assessors of God's work in the world. The Kingdom of God might start small (there's not much smaller than a Crucified Messiah!), but its growth is inevitable.
Then, Jesus again reminds his hearers that the time to respond to the Kingdom message is NOW when they are still able, and not in the future, when it will be too late:
24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 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.’"
Luke 13:24-25
He's warning his fellow Jews that just because they are part of Abraham's family does not mean they get a free pass: they still need to respond to Jesus.
The same message applies to us: the way we show we are his disciples is by doing what he said. Just because we claim to be his followers doesn't count--we have to live like it.
And guess what? There will be some people who look like insiders who turn out to be knocking on the door as outsiders, and there will be some people who would seem to be outsiders who turn out to be insiders:
"Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
Luke 13:30
Today’s Scripture:
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