On August 31, 1998, the first anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, many papers came out with the headline "Where is the Soul of Princess Diana." They were reporting the story that some women in England had withdrawn their children from an Evangelical Sunday school because the Sunday school teachers were teaching the kids that the soul of Princess Diana was in hell, whereas the women had already told their children that the soul of the Princess was in heaven. As a result, the question, "Where is the soul of Princess Diana?" became a major topic of public discuss. A popular radio station in Canada, went as far as to interview the Archdeacon of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto to find out exactly the whereabouts of Princess Diana's soul.
If this same question (where is the soul of Princess Diana) were addressed to Jesus, how would he have answered it? Today’s Gospel and similar Gospel episodes gives us a clue. Jesus would have look the reporter in the eye and told him or her, "Try hard and save your own soul now that you still have the chance, and don’t be bogged down by speculations about the where about of another person’s soul.”
As Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem, someone interrupts him and asks, "Lord, will only a few be saved?"(Luke 13:23). His answer was: "My friend, strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able." Jesus did not really answer the man's question: He answered a more important question, the question the man should have been asking, namely: "How can I be saved?" or “What must I do to be saved?”
There are two kinds of questions we see here concerning salvation: Speculative or Curiosity questions, such as “where would the soul of Princes Diana be at this moment?” and Personally Relevant questions, such as “Master, what must I do to be saved?” Jesus often took time to answer questions that are relevant to truth and salvation, but he wasted no effort on speculative questions. That is why he gave no direct answer to the question that was put to him in today’s Gospel. Instead he used the opportunity to instruct his followers on the important question of what kind of life must live in order to find salvation.
So today we reflect on the challenge of entering by the narrow gate. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is the narrow gate, a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” In an age of super-highways across mainland America and Super Ferries or Cruise Ships around the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands, and in an age of Super-sonic and Jumbo Jet Liners, daily transporting millions of people with ease across the globe, Jesus challenges us to be among the few who resolve to take the narrow and hard road that leads to life, for he says the road that leads to death and destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it.
Brothers and sisters, a major paradox of human life is that we are constantly looking for the easy way out, even when we recognize that not all that glitters is gold. We are constantly looking for comfort, and more and more comfort; for pleasure, and more and more pleasure, for wealth, and more and more wealth, and of course for more and more power, prestige and popularity. We put all our attention and all our energy into pursing wealth, pleasure and power, even when we know that these things do not in themselves bring ultimate happiness in this world, and that they often endanger our eternal salvation. Perhaps today we find it so difficult to reflect on what truly matters in life and what really gives meaning to life, because we are all under such intense pressure to consume more and more goods, to indulge in more and more pleasures, to buy bigger cars, to live in finer homes, and to explore ever more exotic holiday resorts.
As human beings we are designed in such a way that we cannot find meaning, fulfillment and ultimate happiness within ourselves, no matter how much we try. No amount of material pleasure, no amount of wealth and no amount of power and security can provide for us the joy, the peace, the authentic happiness which is only available in God our Creator. Indeed the human heart hungers and thirsts after something beyond all these elements of material pleasure. Sadly however, only a few get to discover this fact in their journey through life. And so they are deprived of true happiness and fulfillment in this life, and they may also miss out on eternal salvation. St. Augustinediscovered this truth in the middle of his life and he exclaimed: “Lord you have created us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Martin Seligman a Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania recently concluded an elaborate study wherein he demonstrated that in a world of acute competition for wealth, power and popularity, and in a world where human beings have more freedom, more choices, and more possibilities for pleasure than ever before, true, genuine, lasting happiness has not been enhanced in the life of many. He discovered that none of the indices of success celebrated in today’s popular culture and mass media contributes in any significant way to genuine happiness. His research shows that authentic happiness comes through a lifestyle of selfless service, especially to the needy, and commitment to family and friends. Many people unfortunately never get to realize this fact. Is this not what Jesus means when he speaks of the hard and narrow road that leads to life, but which only a few people find?
