The Leaven of the Kingdom and the Few Who Are Saved

The Few Who Are Saved and the Great Multitude

1. "The three measures of meal" of which the Lord spoke represents the human race. Remember the flood: only three remained from whom the rest of humanity would be repopulated. Noah had three sons, and through them the human race was restored. That holy "woman who hid the leaven" is Wisdom. The whole world cries out in the Church of God, "I know that the Lord is great" (Psalm 135:5). Yet doubtless there are but few who are saved.

You remember a question that was recently raised from the Gospel: "Lord," someone asked, "are there few who are saved?" (Luke 13:23). What did the Lord say to this? He didn't say, "Not few, but many are saved." He didn't say this. What did He say when He heard, "Are there few who are saved?" "Strive to enter through the narrow gate" (Luke 13:24). When you hear, "Are there few who are saved?" the Lord confirmed what He heard. Through the "narrow gate" only "few" can "enter."

In another place He Himself says, "Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it; but wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

Why do we rejoice in large numbers? Listen to me, you "few." I know that you are "many" who hear me, yet only "few" of you hear to obey. I see the threshing floor; I look for the grain. The grain is barely visible when the floor is being threshed. But the time is coming when it will be winnowed.

Few, then, are saved compared to the many who will perish. For these same "few" will themselves form a great multitude. When the Winnower comes with His winnowing fan in His hand, "He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12).

Let not the chaff mock the wheat. In this matter He speaks truth and deceives no one. Be among yourselves a multitude, though you are few in comparison with a certain multitude. So great a mass will come from this threshing floor as to fill the granary of heaven.

The Lord Christ would not contradict Himself when He said, "There are many who enter by the narrow gate, many who go to ruin through the wide gate," and then in another place said, "Many will come from east and west" (Matthew 8:11). Many, then, are the few; both "few" and "many." Are the "few" one group and the "many" another? No. The "few" are themselves the "many"—few in comparison with the lost, many in the fellowship of the angels.

Listen, beloved friends. The Book of Revelation states: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9). This is the multitude of the saints.

With how much clearer a voice will the threshing floor speak when it has been winnowed—separated from the crowd of the ungodly, evil, and false Christians, when those who "pressed" against Christ but did not "touch" Him (for a certain woman in the Gospel "touched" Him, while the crowd merely "pressed" against Him) shall have been sent to everlasting fire. When all those who are to be condemned have been separated, with what great confidence will the purified multitude, standing at the right hand, no longer fearing the mixture of any evil people nor the loss of any good ones, now about to reign with Christ, say, "I know that the Lord is great!"

2. Therefore, my brothers and sisters (I am speaking to the grain), if you recognize what I'm saying—you who are predestined to eternal life—express it through your actions, not just your words. I'm compelled to say to you what I shouldn't have to say. I ought to find in you reasons for praise, not subjects for admonition. Yet I will say just a few words; I won't dwell on this topic.

Recognize the duty of hospitality; through this some have welcomed God without knowing it. You take in some stranger with whom you yourself are a fellow traveler on life's journey. For we are all strangers here. A Christian is someone who, even in his own house and country, acknowledges himself to be a stranger.

Our true homeland is above; there we will not be strangers. For everyone here below, even in their own house, is a stranger. If they're not a stranger, they won't need to move on from here. If they must move on, they are indeed a stranger. Let no one deceive themselves—a stranger they are, whether they want to be or not.

A person leaves their house to their children—one stranger to other strangers. Why? If you were at an inn, wouldn't you depart when another guest arrives? You do the same in your own house. Your father left a place to you; someday you will leave it to your children. Neither do you stay here as one who will remain forever, nor will those to whom you leave it remain forever.

If we are all passing away, let us do something that cannot pass away. Then, when we have passed from this life and come to the place from which we will never pass away, we will find our good works there waiting for us. Christ is the keeper of these good works; why do you fear losing what you spend on the poor?

Let us turn to the Lord...

And after the Sermon

I remind you, beloved, of what you already know. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the ordination of our venerable lord Aurelius. He asks and encourages you, dear brothers and sisters, through my humble ministry, to be so kind as to gather together with all devotion at the basilica of Faustus. Thanks be to God.