There seems to be a contradiction, this Sunday, between first reading from Isaiah and the Gospel of Luke. While Isaiah proclaims the universality of God's salvation, Luke somewhat narrows it down and conditions it. Isaiah speaks of the Holy Mountain where the Lord will 'gather the nations of every kingdom'. The Gospel affirms that God's offer of mercy and salvation always comes at a price; "Try your best to enter by the narrow door". Salvation and perdition are aspects of God's mystery. We can only hope that all will be saved. What Jesus corrects in the Gospel is the attitude of the pious Jew who asks whether only a few will be saved. Jesus speaks of the 'narrow door' but also of those who pretend to be in but are left out, and those we consider as outsiders, coming from east and west, north and south, but who still experience God's salvation. Today, many people prefer to speak of God's love and infinite mercy, and find it difficult to acknowledge the existence of hell or eternal punishment. God works salvation through ways and means which are not like ours. His ways are not our ways. According to the logic of the Gospel, people from all cultures and civilizations even those we think are remote from God, can take our places in God's kingdom to our great delusion.
