Commentary - Luke 13:22-30

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, Jesus is confronted with a speculative question about the number of people being saved. As is His custom, He refuses to get tangled in the weeds of theological abstractions and instead turns the question back on the questioner, making it intensely personal and practical. The issue is not "how many," but rather "will you be one of them?" Jesus uses the potent image of a narrow door to illustrate the strenuous effort required to enter the kingdom. This is not the striving of works-righteousness, but the agonizing struggle of repentance and faith against our own sin, against the world, and against the devil. The warning that follows, about the master of the house shutting the door, is a stark reminder that the opportunity for salvation is not indefinite. The passage concludes with a dramatic reversal, where the presumed insiders (the Jews of that generation) are cast out, while outsiders from every corner of the earth are brought in to feast with the patriarchs. This is a direct prophecy of the gospel going to the Gentiles and a foundational text for understanding the nature of the kingdom's expansion.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 22 And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.

The geography here is theological. Jesus is on His final journey to Jerusalem, the place where He will accomplish our salvation. Every step is deliberate, every teaching is freighted with eschatological weight. He is not meandering; He is on a mission, proceeding toward the cross. The teaching He is doing along the way is therefore set against this backdrop of ultimate sacrifice. This is last-chance instruction. The shadow of the cross falls over every word.

v. 23 And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?"

Someone in the crowd, we are not told who, asks a question that many people still like to ponder. It is a question of detached curiosity. "Lord, let's talk numbers. What's the demographic breakdown of heaven going to look like?" This is the kind of question that allows the questioner to remain a spectator, an analyst, rather than a participant. He wants to know about "them," the ones being saved, without yet grappling with the state of his own soul. It is an attempt to turn a matter of eternal life and death into a subject for a seminar.

v. 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."

Jesus pivots immediately from the theoretical to the personal. He doesn't answer the question directly. He doesn't give a number or a percentage. He gives a command: "You strive." The Greek word is agonizomai, from which we get our word "agonize." This is not a casual effort. This is the effort of an athlete in the final stretch, a soldier in the thick of battle. You are to fight, to wrestle, to strain every spiritual sinew to get through that door. Why? Because many will "seek" to enter and fail. Notice the difference between striving and seeking. The seeking is a lazy, half-hearted wish. It is wanting heaven without wanting Christ, wanting the crown without the cross. The striving is the desperate, whole-hearted pursuit of Christ Himself, who is the Door. The narrowness of the door is not about God being stingy with salvation; it is about the radical nature of repentance. You cannot bring your baggage with you, your pride, your self-righteousness, your pet sins. You must strip down to nothing but Christ alone.

v. 25 "Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.'"

The time for striving is now. The door of opportunity will not remain open forever. There is a point at which the master of the house, God Himself, will rise and shut the door. This refers most immediately to the judgment that was about to fall on that generation of Israel in A.D. 70, but it applies to every individual at the moment of death and to the world at the final judgment. After that door is shut, all the polite knocking in the world will do no good. The plea "Lord, open up to us!" reveals a prior relationship of presumption. They call Him Lord, but their striving was non-existent. His reply is one of the most terrifying statements in Scripture: "I do not know where you are from." This is not a failure of omniscience. It is the language of covenantal rejection. He is saying, "We have no relationship. You are not one of mine."

v. 26 "Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'"

The appeal becomes more frantic. They bring up their credentials. "But we were there! We had table fellowship. We listened to your sermons. We were part of the religious scene." This is the plea of the nominal Christian, the cultural church-goer. They mistook proximity to Jesus for a relationship with Jesus. They heard His words, but they did not do them. They ate the bread and fish, but they did not eat His flesh and drink His blood by faith. Their religion was external, a matter of geography and attendance, not internal transformation.

v. 27 "And He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU WORKERS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.'"

The master's response is repeated and amplified. The declaration of non-relationship ("I do not know you") is now coupled with a command of eternal separation ("Depart from me") and the true reason for it ("you workers of unrighteousness"). Their claims of religious activity are swept aside by the reality of their lawless lives. They heard the teaching, but they practiced iniquity. True faith works. It produces righteousness. Where there is no fruit of righteousness, there was never a root of saving faith, regardless of how many potlucks were attended.

v. 28 "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out."

Here the full horror of their situation is revealed. Hell is not just a place of punishment, but a place of agonizing regret. The "weeping" is for what is lost; the "gnashing of teeth" is the impotent rage and bitterness against God. And the torment is intensified by what they will see. They will see the great patriarchs, the very foundation of their national and religious identity, enjoying the feast of the kingdom. And they, the natural sons, will be outside, cast out. The presumed heirs are disinherited.

v. 29 "And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God."

This is the great reversal, the stunning twist. While the sons of the kingdom are being cast out, a great multitude from every point of the compass will stream in. This is a direct prophecy of the success of the Great Commission. The gospel will break the bounds of Israel and go to the Gentiles. People from every tribe and tongue and nation will be brought into the covenant family of Abraham. The narrow door for first-century Israel becomes a wide gate for the nations. The kingdom of God is not a small, exclusive club, but a global, conquering reality.

v. 30 "And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last."

This is the summarizing principle of the entire passage. The "first", the Jewish nation, with all its covenantal privileges, its temple, its law, its prophets, will become last because of their unbelief. The "last", the Gentiles, who were strangers to the covenant, without God and without hope in the world, will become first through faith in Christ. This is not a universal principle of egalitarianism; it is a specific, historical judgment and a promise. God's economy is not based on birthright or religious resume, but on grace through faith, which always turns human expectations upside down.

Application

First, we must take the command to "strive" with the utmost seriousness. Salvation is a free gift, purchased entirely by the blood of Christ, but it is not received passively. We must fight for it. We must agonize in repentance. We must wage war against our flesh. We must treat our sin as the mortal enemy it is and kill it. If your Christian life is comfortable, easy, and costs you nothing, you have every reason to question whether you have entered the narrow door at all.

Second, we must examine the basis of our assurance. Is it based on the fact that we "ate and drank" in His presence? That we grew up in the church, were baptized, and can recite the catechism? These things are good, but they are not the ground of our salvation. Proximity to the things of God is not the same as possession of God. The only sure foundation is a living faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that is evidenced by a life of growing righteousness and a hatred for sin.

Finally, we should be filled with a robust, optimistic, and global vision for the kingdom of God. The rejection of the gospel by some leads to the salvation of multitudes. God's plan is not thwarted by human unbelief; it is advanced. This passage is a death blow to any small, pinched, pessimistic view of the kingdom. While the way in is narrow for each individual, the result is a massive, international throng feasting with Abraham. Our God is a great God, and He is in the business of saving the world. Therefore, let us strive to enter, and let us labor to bring the nations in with us.