The question of that man who approaches Jesus perhaps interprets one of our secret concerns well: “Lord, are there few who are saved?”. It is certainly not a pure soteriological curiosity, but it hides the secret desire to be counted among those “few” who are opposed to the many and who never identify with everyone. Faced with this need to create and be part of a circle of privileged people, what we find in the second reading comes true: “the Lord corrects the one he loves”. The Lord’s response is in perfect harmony with what is announced by the prophet Isaiah: “I will come to gather all the peoples … they will bring back all your brothers”. The salvation of the Lord is not for a few, but it is for all of us who risk boasting of having “eaten and drank” in his “presence” risk finding ourselves far from the heart of God. The Lord’s invitation concerns us personally: “Strive to enter through the narrow door of the heart” of God in which we are called to thin our pride of wanting to be better than others. We could reformulate the question that this fellow – in passing – poses to the Lord Jesus by transforming it into a scholastic question. It is as if a student asks: ” Who passes this exam?”. Normally a question like this is a temptation to exorcise the fear of not being able to overcome it!

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Novalesa Abbey

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey