Matthew 7:13, 14 records the beginning of the end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He begins a lengthy conclusion by saying basically, "That's it, my friend. Now what are you going to do with it? There really isn't much point in listening any further if you're not going to do anything about it." The remainder of Matthew 7 is grand, motivational application. Jesus refuses to let His listeners bask in the grandeur of the sermon's thought. He knows all too well that admiration without application is deadly, and that conviction without commitment serves only to dull one's spirit.
So He begins this section with a provoking opening statement, "Enter through the narrow gate." This is a command not a suggestion. He then adds, "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life" [v. 14]. In context, He is saying that all that He has taught in the Sermon collectively forms a "narrow gate." Such words have never been welcome, but they are particularly offensive to post-modern ears. We can be called vain, proud, mean but don't call us narrow. Our culture admires the urbane, the worldly-wise, the all-accepting. We would never want to be thought of as "narrow." To the post-modern, that implies that we have blighted, dwarfed, and stunted natures cramped by a defective education or squeezed out of shape by a narrow-minded environment. And did I say that no one likes to be called narrow?!?
Now, in one sense it is good that Christians avoid this tag. We certainly do not want to be narrow and self-righteous like the letter of the law Pharisees. Nor do we want to be dogmatic and inflexible about matters in which the Scriptures are not clear. On the other hand, we must embrace the narrowness that Christ is commanding. Jesus says that there are only two roads -- one leading to destruction and one leading to life. And there is no alternate, middle way. Christ never said anything accidentally, and what He said here was sublimely premeditated. He knew that nothing could be more calamitous than for a hearer [or reader] of the Sermon to meditate on it precepts, and perhaps even to rave about them, but to never experience their reality.
"Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it" [v. 13]. Jesus describes here a large entrance to a city that opens onto a broad boulevard. The road has a wide entrance and it spacious, meaning that it is easy to locate and easy to get onto. Because of its size, there are few to no limitations as to baggage. You can for the most part take anything along that you please. You don't have to leave anything behind. And to stay on this road, all you have to do is follow your inclinations. Absolutely no effort is required.
The implicit idea of this broad road is that it imposes no boundaries on its travelers, and especially not on what one thinks. On the wide road, if your thing is nature, that is okay. If it is meditation, that is okay. If it is morality or sensuality, that too is okay. The road has plenty of room for everyone so long as one's thinking does not turn into value judgments. It is okay to compare and contrast philosophies, but to say one is better than the other is anathema. The relative is absolutized, and the absolute is relativized.
Other than platitudes about the good of the majority or the consensus of the people, the wide road imposes few boundaries on conduct. It takes little to no effort to remain on its broad stretch. It inflicts a deceptive sense of freedom and independence to it travelers. But the trip itself is all it has to offer, and is ultimately unsatisfying throughout. And yet, though it is the wrong road, Jesus says that "many enter through it." The road is heavily traveled. In fact, most people seem to prefer it! You are never alone on the broad road "that leads to destruction." Eventually the road comes to the edge of the abyss, and there it stops, but the traveler does not!
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Jesus here pictures for us a tiny gate that is easily overlooked. We have to search for it to find it. And once through the gate, the road is narrow. It never broadens, no matter how far along or how long we travel it. The gate is evidently the kind through which we cannot bring any baggage and requires us to leave everything behind.
The tiny gate is a wonderful metaphor for the Beatitudes. Picture the first two Beatitudes as the sideposts to the small gate. The first Beatitude being our need for a conscious awareness of our spiritual bankruptcy, and the other demanding our sorrow over our sin. This is indeed a small gate, and few people are willing to shed what is necessary to get through it. After all, who really likes to be poor in spirit and truly mourn over their sins? At the end of ourselves, we must come to God holding nothing in our hands except our own inadequacy and our consciousness of sin.
Now having entered through the small gateway to life, we travelers find that the road remains narrow. Christ is absolutely upfront about the fact that the road remains both narrow and difficult. There is no attempt to lure us onto the road with assurance that though it will be difficult at first, the road's contour will eventually widen. The truth is, those who follow this road have to take up their cross [Mark 8:34] and suffer for and with Jesus Christ. But as He said at the beginning of this Sermon, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for their is the kingdom of heaven" [Matthew 5:10].
This narrow road is not only difficult, but it also imposes boundaries on what we both think and believe. Yet this does not mean the narrow road is repressive. Far from it! On the narrow road our thoughts about God and truth are both enlarged and confined simultaneously. Truth is not left up to the tyranny of democratic consensus. Those who follow Christ will not and may not believe what most people believe. And those of us on the narrow way will not be popular for our beliefs. For example, our thoughts about God are narrowed. Certain conceptions of God are true, and others are false. But in believing the truth, our vision of God goes far beyond any vision dreamed by anyone on the broad road. Who would have dreamed of a God who was not confined by nature but who was above nature, and who holds everything together by the word of His power; who is our Father but who also became a man in order to redeem us? So it is only the narrow way that brings and incredibly spectacular, immense conception of God.
Our thoughts regarding salvation are similarly narrowed. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" [John 14:6]. Our affections are also narrowed, for we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might [Deuteronomy 6:5], to put no one else above or equal to Him. The same goes for our conduct. There are things we cannot do. Everything is not okay. But paradoxically, it is in our boundaries that we actually find liberation socially, sexually, and ethically. The only free men or free women in these areas are the ones who walk the straight and narrow way!
And lastly, the narrow way is completely fulfilling. It provides both freedom and joy. And ultimately it leads to eternal life that Jesus defined as knowing Him and His Father. "Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" [John 17:3]. There is no abyss at the end of the narrow road, but there is unspeakable glory!
It is no accident that Jesus said these words at the beginning of the end of His Sermon on the Mount. He knew that at the end of the Sermon some would stand at the foot of the magisterial immensity of what He taught and praise and laud it -- and yet never enter the kingdom. That is why the opening line to His conclusion is a command: "Enter through the narrow gate." It is not enough to listen to preaching about the gate. We must enter through it. Moreover, He makes it clear that there can be no neutrality. We are either on the broad road leading to destruction or the narrow road leading to life. We will never go through the narrow gate by accident or unawares. We must enter it both thoughtfully and purposely. Have you done so?
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