²³ Someone said to him, “Lord, how many people will be saved? Only a few?”

Jesus said, ²⁴ “The door to heaven is narrow. Try hard to enter it. Many people will want to enter there, but they will not be able to go in. ²⁵ If a man locks the door of his house, you can stand outside and knock on the door, but he won’t open it. You can say, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you. Where did you come from?’ ²⁶ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you. You taught in the streets of our town.’ ²⁷ Then he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you. Where did you come from? Get away from me! You are all people who do wrong!’

²⁸ “You will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom. But you will be left outside. There you will cry and grind your teeth with pain. ²⁹ People will come from the east, west, north, and south. They will sit down at the table in God’s kingdom. ³⁰ People who have the lowest place in life now will have the highest place in God’s kingdom. And people who have the highest place now will have the lowest place in God’s kingdom.”

Jesus Will Die in Jerusalem^(A)

³¹ Just then some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away from here and hide. Herod wants to kill you!”

³² Jesus said to them, “Go tell that fox,^[a] ‘Today and tomorrow I am forcing demons out of people and finishing my work of healing. Then, the next day, the work will be finished.’ ³³ After that I must go, because all prophets should die in Jerusalem.

³⁴ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets. You stone to death the people God has sent to you. How many times I wanted to help your people. I wanted to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you did not let me. ³⁵ Now your home will be left completely empty. I tell you, you will not see me again until that time when you will say, ‘Welcome! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[b]”