Twenty-first Ordinary

Luke 13: 23 – 24

A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?” Jesus said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires your total attention”.

The Lasts and Firsts always get mention, but what about the in-betweens, the average, the mediocres? Where do they stand in the kingdom? Hmm … it is pretty clear that Christianity is an all-or-nothing way of life: if you’re not with me, you’re against me, Jesus tells his disciples. There is no maybe, no give me a minute to tie up some loose ends. The time to love with fiery passion is now; this instant.

But for those of us who fear we might not have embraced our Christian faith with that degree of warmth, fear not, the hope for reconciliation is ever present. The possibility to recommit to the discipline of God’s love is available at any given moment.

Second chances and do-overs abound throughout Christian history. Peter denies Christ three times and becomes the rock upon which the church is built; Paul persecutes Christians and becomes its most vigorous and influential missionary; Augustine spends his early life as a profligate and later years as one of the greatest Christian thinkers; Thérèse of Lisieux suffers obsessive guilt and then goes on to find unflappable clam and peace in her little way.

It’s never too late to turn up the heat and become like God, who the writer of Hebrews tells us is “a consuming fire”.

Sorry, lukewarm definitely won’t do.