Fireside: The Winner’s Word

“And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,

STRIVE”

Luke 13:22-25

The Jews marvelled at Jesus’ way with words. “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15) they puzzled. Heaven knows Him as “the Word made flesh.” He could hold thousands of people in rapt attention for days at a time (without food) with His sermons.

But He was also a Man of few words. Often His responses were a silent gesture, or a searing look. The Bible shows His balance of elaborate oratory and salient silence. When the silence is broken, everything rises and falls on His every word.

A Monumental Task

The time is nearing that Jesus will be crucified. He and the disciples are heading to Jerusalem. The disciples have seen and heard so much; they are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. But their excitement is tempered as Jesus preaches the parables of the kingdom: the fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit, the infested mustard tree, the compromising leaven. They overhear His attitude toward Jewish martyrs and tragic accidents. They observe Him get put-out with religion that cannot help and watch His steps get heavier as He plods toward His terminus.

They know something is coming. Things will be changing. A thoughtful question breaks the silence: “Lord, are there few that be saved?”

And the Lord responds: “Strive.”

We should recognize that this is a closed-ended question. A “yes” or “no” answers this type of question. Whomever is asking this question is looking for an affirmation of the darkening that was happening as Jesus marched toward the cross. He fears that Jesus cannot give him a, “Yes”–

He is fully expecting a “No.”

But this answer perhaps was not as Calvinistic as the disciples feared. He opens with a word, not a word for the lost, but for the saved. A word for the soul-winner. 

“Strive”

Some have ripped this word from the Lord’s meaning. He was addressing eleven men who believed in Him and belonged to Him. Their destiny (according to John 17) was fixed. Christ would lose none of them.

Yet for the impending, prophetic future of the Jewish nation, ‘striving to enter’ will be an absolute necessity. Faith alone is sufficient for now. Christ was looking past our present time to arm them for the future.

While doing so, He also arms us for the task at hand. “Are there few that be saved?” I believe as we listen in on this conversation not meant for us, we may still pick up on an insinuation that has the church age saint written all over it:

“Are there few that be saved?” That, my friend, is up to you. Your watchword? Strive.

“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Whereunto I also labour, STRIVING according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”

Colossians 1:28-29

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