WEDNESDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Rom 8: 26-30 Ps 13: 4-6 Lk 13: 22-30
DITCHING THE EXCESS BAGGAGE
“Will only a few be saved?” It is a legitimate question. Maybe you know that you will be saved, but where do we get this assurance of our salvation? The letter to the Ephesians 1:13-14 writes, “We who have heard the truth, the gospel of salvation and have believed were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.
Here is the assurance of our salvation – hearing, believing and being sealed with the Holy Spirit.” But it does not end there. Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Firstly, a narrow door implies, that I cannot bring a lot with me. Some skinny kids would always try to get through a fence by squeezing themselves through the bars. Experience tells us that one cannot carry a lot of things with himself/herself through that narrow space. That is why Jesus invites us to come to him as a child. As we grow older, we accumulate more things, and they become attached to us and we become attached to them.
To enter through the narrow door, we are going to have to strip ourselves of many things – worldly things, some sinful but even some good things that stop us from getting through because they have become our idols or our baggage. Let us not carry such extra baggage with us, because those burdens hold us down and keep us from encountering Jesus. May Jesus not end up saying to us, “I do not know where you come from.” Let us imitate Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet. Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” The good portion that draws us to the Lord and allows us to enter through the narrow door might make us look like fools to the world and often last in the world’s eyes. This is when we need to remind ourselves of Jesus’ words “Some who are last will be first and some are first who will be last” (Lk 13:30).
Response: I trust in your merciful love, O Lord
Copyright ©2025 ©Springs of Living Water http://springs.carmelmedia.in