Clutching Pearls or Bearing Crosses?
Clutching Pearls or Bearing Crosses?
Luke 13:23-24
And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
It’s like he’s saying the real focus isn’t on headcounts but on the effort and commitment required to follow him. That "follow" is a struggle with competing priorities. And that "narrow door" imagery, tight, exclusive, hinting at a path that’s not easy or wide open to just anyone looking to coast on through. Resisting temptation, "deliver us from temptation." Stay true to your convictions. Trust Jesus even when life gets messy. It's not casual, it's a deliberate choice with urgency for the stakeholders. Striving to enter in.
"But we've taken the Eucharist!"
"But we've been baptized!"
"But we've served the Church!"
"But we've walked, in your name!"
And they did all those things. They’ve got the resume, the checklist, but something’s missing. So why doesn't Jesus know them?
Perhaps Jesus gives us the answer:
Luke 13:34
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"
It’s like the answer’s hiding in plain sight. It’s not just about the externals, the rituals, or even the good deeds. It’s about the heart’s response, the willingness, the surrender, knowing Him, not just knowing about Him.
Could it be they strove for the wrong things? Status, security, or self—justifying works, instead of striving for Him?
Jesus wants to gather them to himself, but they aren't interested in gatherings in his name. They have their own place, their own sacrifices and sacraments.
And so Jesus tells it like it is:
Luke 13:35
"Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’"
That seems to be the hitch pin doesn't it. There's something powerful in that name. It's a power that releases sanctifying energy. Energy that many religious organizations have tried to fake. But that false belief is really just a refusal to let go of control, to trade their self-made sanctuaries for the real thing. It’s scary out there on your own relying upon just a name. But there really is something electric and alive in the name of Jesus, a sanctifying energy that can’t be bottled or faked, though many try.
The name of Jesus isn’t a magic word or a ritual token; it’s a lifeline, a connection to the real thing, the living God who gathers us. You've got to bank on it. You've got to let go of your props, your systems, your status, your safe little houses.
That’s the narrow door, trusting His name, His power, over our own.
Almost as if he was trying to drive this point home, Jesus is again dining with the Pharisees. I suppose he could count on them to at least get it wrong. Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. Luke 14:1 sets the scene perfectly. He’s in their house, at their table, under their watchful eyes. It’s almost ironic. Here’s the one whose name carries sanctifying power, breaking bread with the very people clinging to their own control, and their own systems. Telling the Lord of the Sabbath about how he's getting the Sabbath wrong. Jesus is right there, offering the real thing, and they’re too busy guarding their own turf to see Him. It’s a living example of what He just warned about, striving for the wrong stuff, refusing to be gathered. Jesus is at their table, he came to them, and the Pharisees are watching him. And the question is hanging in the air. Will they let go and trust His name, or keep clutching their own pearls?
The Set Up:
Luke 14:2-6
And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not? But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out" And they could not reply to these things.
Right off the bat it's obvious that this whole dinner invitation was a setup. But Jesus knew that going in. In fact, Jesus knew lots of things. For instance it says, "And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying..." Responding to what? No one is recorded having asked a question. Who's setting up who?
The Pharisees didn’t invite Jesus over for a friendly Sabbath meal; they’re poised like vipers, ready to pounce. But Jesus? He’s steps ahead, turning their game into a masterclass on what really matters. Jesus is reading the room, the unspoken accusations, the smug silence. The man with dropsy isn’t just a coincidence; he’s the bait, and Jesus knows it. So Jesus turns the tables on them and tells a parable ironically about tables, and places of honor at those tables.
Luke 14:7-11
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is watching how they were jockeying for the places of honor. He’s watching them scramble for status, clutching their pearls, and He doesn’t just call it out; He spins a story that cuts deeper. Jesus turns this parable on the host. He's calling him out right in front of all his guests. Don’t grab the VIP seat, or you’ll get bumped down in front of everyone. Take the low spot, and let the host lift you up. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”, that’s the narrow door again, isn’t it?
Striving for Him means letting go of the honor chase, all the self-exaltation they’re so obsessed with. Jesus is pointing to a kingdom where humility opens the way to true exaltation, by God, not by the words or deeds of men.
And Jesus takes it a step further, telling them to invite the ones who can’t repay, the poor, the blind and lame. It's such a radical pivot from their honor-grabbing. It’s not just about humility for yourself; it’s about who you’re bringing to the table. He’s dismantling their whole system, don’t chase glory for yourself, share it with the overlooked.
Then comes Luke 14:15, one of the dinner guests pipes up, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" It’s almost like this guy’s half-getting it, right? He hears Jesus talk about feasts and humility and the unexpected guests, and he blurts out this hopeful line. But it’s also a setup for what’s next, the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:16-24, where the invited ones snub the host, and the outcasts get brought in. It’s like Jesus baits the hook with this guy’s comment, ready to reel them into a harder truth.
In this feast parable part two, Jesus describes invitations going out but nothing but excuses are returned. God invited them and they all gave commercial grade excuses. They're tied up, too much to do. There's work to be done. No time for feasts with Jesus. So God sends messengers out into the streets to compel others to come.
‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame...Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’
God’s not messing around. The poor, crippled, blind, lame, the ones from the edges, they’re compelled to come in. "That my house may be filled" is such a line, it’s God’s feast, His terms, and He’s not leaving it empty just because the VIPs bailed. It’s the narrow door thrown wide open for the unlikely, while the excuse-makers miss out.
And so it seems as if Jesus has sorted it all out. Sifted all the tares from the wheat. Separated the sheep from the goats. But he's not finished refining them yet. He's not completed the full narrowing.
Luke 14:25-27
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."
He turns to the "great crowds" following Him and drops a bombshell. He's speaking to all of us now. Every generation. And he says following him is not the "in thing to do". It's not some popularity bandwagon that you just jump on when it feels right. This isn’t a kind and gentle invitation anymore; it’s a line in the sand. It’s about where loyalty lands when push comes to shove. Jesus over everything.
This is the narrow door at its tightest, following Him might cost you family ties, social standing, your own plans, even your life. He's heading toward Jerusalem to die for them. Are they following him for that?
Jesus isn’t just filling His house; He’s forging a people who’ll drop everything to bear his cross.
What’s your cross? What’s still too precious to hate compared to Him?