Narrow and wide gates

Matthew 7: 6, 12 - 14

Enter through the narrow gate.....the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it.

I don't really know much about gates. But I do know that as age creeps up and I now use multifocal lenses, I have to try much harder to thread needles with narrow eyes. It does require patient effort. Thankfully, I don't have to sew much but there are those hems to fold up and school badges to sew on. I am informed by Scripture commentators who understand Greek that the word "Enter" is an imperative verb. Jesus means business. He is not just asking us to passively drift along in our faith. It is an active choice we must make if our destination is eternal life.

I believe one of the problems we face in church these days is that the Gospel has been watered down in our evangelistic efforts. If all 'seekers' were alerted to the many demanding statements made by Jesus, I wonder how many of them would respond to him. Perhaps, many conversions are made initially on the basis of 'eternal life' as an insurance for the afterlife. After all, we all have our life insurance for the present life; why not also make sure we have one for the afterlife?

Whatever the reason for initial attraction to the Christian faith, it does not end with saying the 'sinner's prayer'. That is just the entry point. Perhaps it means one has identified the narrow gate and one stands before it. But now, the action begins. I suppose we could imagine a person with a heavily laden animal in Jesus' time trying to pass through a narrow gate. He can only do it with much difficulty and patience. Perhaps he would even have to make some adjustments - take off some of the goods, let the animal pass through first, carry the goods over himself and then reload the animal. On the other hand, imagine a wide gate where another person just breezes through. No effort required.

Yet, the way that seems so easy, we are warned, leads to destruction! And the more difficult way leads to life! Are Christians some sort of masochists? As I read the Bible, I begin to see that God gives us many assurances of our status as his beloved children. And yet at the same time, he does not want us to become like spoiled children, always saying "Gimme!". He loves us too much. He knows that if we do not constantly practice choosing his way (often the harder choice in our broad minded culture) we will never grow strong in the desire to do his will. In fact, he warns us that there are few who find it. Not that we are judging others but it is important that we do not just go with the flow even in our churches.

However, we must remember that Jesus' yoke is easy and his burden is light. The effort we make to go through the narrow gate will not be burdensome, if we stop to learn from Jesus. As we come to him, we learn his humility and gentleness. We approach all our discipleship tasks not as legalistic acts we strive to do to earn God's approval but as the way we come to truly experience fullness of life. Even the difficult choices are made with delight, with restful souls.