​Someone asks a question about salvation.  This is religious talk for health and wellbeing.  Jesus tells them that there is a door, in the age to come, where God is hosting a banquet.  Everyone is trying to get in and the owner solves the log jam problem by rising from the dead and shutting the door! 
 
The people outside beg to be allowed in.  But the Lord answers that He does not know them.  It seems that relying  on  vague  contact  with  Jesus  is  not enough.  Jesus does not join in the man’s quest for numbers but invites him to put all of himself behind the quest. So many are trying to be saved the wrong way.  They think that 'who you know' rather than 'who you  are' is  what  matters.   But  notice  that  the  door does not open to the well connected. 
 

​Jesus only recognises His own.  He knows us if we are like Him.  Jesus speaks from a heart set on God alone and works with the Spirit to transfigure His heart into one which loves all people.  This is not easy.  It is a lifetime’s work. 
 
There will always be people who want Salvation on their own terms.  They want to stride into the feast adorned in titles and lists of who they know.  And then there are those who struggle for community and for the mighty love.  These will learn  the  great  lesson  of  Grace  -  that  all  who  strive  to  love  must  die, and surrender all to the One who has the power to save them.  They are considered by the first group to be the last because they do not compete in the world of ego.  But in the Kingdom they are first because they have found in their heart what Jesus knew in His Heart - the divine love that makes us one. When we know this, the narrow door widens to become the widest of doors. 
 
Someone once asked Fritz Perls if he was saved.  He answered,' I'm trying to figure out how to be spent!' 

What does Jesus mean when He says, "See that you are 'dressed for action' and have your lamps lit". (Lk:12.35).  To help us understand this, we need to turn to the story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids.  You remember that their wisdom was celebrated because their lamps were lit!  What does that mean and how does it work?
 
Quite simply it means that we speak and act in a way that inspires others.  When they look at how we live, how we speak, and how we act, they are given a living pause for thought and the path is lit for the way they need to walk.  It would be sad if, when they listened to the words we speak, or observed our life, they decided that we had nothing to offer or that we were hypocrites.  Or, to put it a little more directly, Jesus had very severe words for those who extinguish the light of love in another person’s heart.
 
Now here's the thing.  The foolish ones are always rushing to the wise ones when it's too late to ask for some of their oil.  It's too late because, the problem is, it can't be given.  I can't turn to you on my deathbed and ask you to give me the value of the good that you have done.  This is a serious warning from the Teacher. Today I have to decide that this is the right thing to do and do it.
 
I love the image of God as Bridegroom but I'm a little more curious when  I  think  of  God  as  a burglar.   You  may remember that I had a visit from one of these shortly after I arrived in Bracknell.  It's not a pleasant experience.  But
it was, in one sense, my own fault because I went out and left my window open.  Jesus says that The Son of Man is
coming,  like  a  burglar, at  an  hour  we  do  not  expect. Wouldn't it be great if we were ready, welcoming Him with
the  words,  I've  been  waiting  for  you,  Light  of  the World.   And more to the point, I have been doing what you
asked of me.  I shine bright and clear as a sign of Your Love  for  others.  Now  look  what  happens.  "I  tell  you solemnly, He will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them." That's worth consideration!

It doesn't matter if it's the rich or the poor - I have seen families torn apart and destroyed over  questions  of  inheritance.   As  if  they  believed  that  the  precious  relationships  of their life were less valuable than the baubles which helped to hold them together!
 
In cash terms, all of us, no matter who we are - how young or how old - try to juggle many 'financial' balls.  A job I love, or a job that pays well.  Can I have both?  Rare. Now I'm working with people I don't like, but the money is good so I'll endure.  My boss is awful, nothing is worth having to face that one every working day.  And so it goes on, with the great question, when will we ever have enough - too much would be better - to live the life we want. Then.....
 
Jesus  sent  His  disciples,  without  cloak  or  coin,  His  word  their  only  possession,  like troubadours with a single song.  They broke over Galilee like a summer storm, cleansing air and earth and leaving a fragrance as fresh as the time before the first scream.  They came back to Him, having broken the back of pain and He said, 'Come aside and rest awhile'. So Jesus pulled them away to a desert place where they reclined on the green grass of His soul. "We have done great things," they said.  'Your feet are dusty, I will wash them,' He said.  "We will have a time of no more hunger, no more thirst,' they said. Jesus said  to  them,  "People  who  would  end  hunger  may  be  hungry  themselves.   Here  is Bread.   People  who  would  do  away  with  thirst  may  be  thirsty  themselves.   Here  is wine.  Eat and remember or the earth you shake will swallow you.  The mountains you move will crush you.  The sin you stalk will in turn stalk you".  
 
Then Jesus opened his hands and a story fell live to the ground.
 
'Once there was a rich man
and the over-generous earth opened to him
with the gift of 1000 suppers of wheat.
At the sight of such abundance
his mind became a ledger
and  he  broke  down  his  bins and  built  bigger barns
To house his new self-sufficiency.
I will never be hungry again - he shouted.
He never was.  That night he died.
Eat and Remember!'
 
(Adapted from John Shea, The Indiscriminate Host)