“Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.
–(Matthew 7:13, 14, Common English Bible).
What does the above passage mean to you? Or rather, how have you heard it interpreted before? If you grew up in a church like the one that I did, I suspect I can guess. If you heard this preached on, the sermon probably said something along these lines:
“Jesus tells us that the world is headed to destruction because they are walking on the wide path toward hell. But we are on the narrow path, guarding our actions, repenting from sin, and eventually we’ll end up in heaven to spend an eternity with Jesus.”
In a nutshell, this is the kind of preaching I often heard as a young person. I’ve touched before on how scared I was of finding myself on the broad path that leads to destruction. I was terrified that any sin I committed meant that I wasn’t truly saved, that I would be going to hell when I died.
The problem is that I really don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying here.
To get at the heart of his teaching, we need to consider this passage in its proper context situating it within the broader teachings of Jesus. Don’t worry; I’ll try not to be overly academic here, since I’m far from a biblical scholar myself. I just think that we want to consider reading this passage in a different light from the one that is so often taught.
First, the context here is Jesus’ condemnation of the pharisees. This is the group of hypocritical teachers who loved to show off how holy they were and condemn other people for not following their teachings. They also made a whole lot of rules that people had to follow to be considered “holy.” If you’re anything like me, I bet that sounds familiar to you too.
In this passage, Jesus points out the hypocrisy of these religious teachers, saying things like, “When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get” (Matthew 6:5, CEB).
He goes on for a while like this before switching to tell his followers what a real life of righteousness looks like. (Also, that word “righteousness” has more than one meaning, which ties it to justice, but I’ll get to that in a different post). Jesus says things like, “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged” (Matthew 7:1).
Then he gets to the passage discussed at the beginning of this post.
He tells us to enter the narrow gate and follow the difficult path to life. Now, is he talking about life after death here, what is commonly referred to as “salvation”? Maybe, but there’s more to it than that.
You see, given the prior context, where Jesus both condemns the pharisees and explains how to live a different life, he purposely follows it up with this statement. Jesus has been telling his followers this whole time what it looks like to follow the path to destruction and how to follow the difficult path to life.
Jesus has spent the last several chapters of Matthew telling us how to enter the narrow gate that leads to life:
“How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when there’s a log in your eye? You deceive yourself! First take the log out of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye.”
“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
“When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.”
He ends by saying, “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock” (Matthew 7:24). Therefore, finding the narrow gate and difficult path that leads to righteousness involves following the words of Jesus, something that our human nature struggles with.
And if that wasn’t clear enough, he gives us one rule, commonly known as the Golden Rule, “Therefore, you should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you; this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).” How do we follow the laws of Jesus and walk the path to righteousness? We treat others the way we want them to treat us.
In the end, this will lead us to true, meaningful life.
My friends, I spent so many good years of my life worrying. Worrying about stepping off the narrow path and suddenly finding myself bound for hell. I wish I could go back and tell my younger self what I’m saying to you now:
“Don’t worry. Your job is not to worry about being perfect or doing exactly the right thing in every situation. Your job is to love God and love others, because, as Jesus says, ‘this is the Law and the Prophets.’”
This is indeed more difficult than it seems. We are selfish humans by nature, and we make mistakes. The point is not to be perfect, but the path is a journey, not a destination. Be merciful to yourself, learn from your mistakes. Ask God to help you love a little bit better every day.
This thought can be very freeing. After all, Jesus also tells us, “Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you really will be free” (John 8:36, CEB).
Something beautiful happens when we choose to follow Jesus: We find true life. Later, in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”
So rather than a burden, with numerous rules to follow, Jesus offers us rest.
And that, my friends, is true life.
Coffee & Theology 