Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
— Matthew 7:13-14
Following the Call—Chap. 48: Two Ways
On missing the point. The choice. A hard way? Your turn.
If we behold Jesus Christ going on before us step by step, we shall not go astray. But if we worry about the dangers that beset us, if we gaze at the road instead of at him who goes before, we are already straying from the path. For he is himself the way, the narrow way and the strait gate. He, and he alone, is our journey’s end.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
On Missing the Point
We are good at getting side-tracked, arguing and speculating about what a particular scripture passage means and yet missing its main point. This passage is a case in point. We can quickly get off track by debating whether the vast majority of humanity will perish in hell. Yes, Jesus says that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). But he also speaks of “many” coming from the east and west for salvation (Matt. 8:11).
How many are saved is actually beside the point in this particular saying of Jesus. Jesus means for us to act, to choose. Jesus was once asked: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” He simply replied: “Strive to enter by the narrow door” (Luke 13:23-24). That door is open to anyone. Appearances to the contrary, Jesus wants us to decide unambiguously whether or not we will enter the narrow gate and follow him into his kingdom. “For he is himself the way,” writes Bonhoeffer. “He, and he alone, is our journey’s end.”
The Choice
Jesus echoes the prophets of old (Deut. 11:26-27; Jer. 21:8). There is a way that leads to life, and a way that leads to death. We have a choice to make. “Choose this day whom you will serve,” exhorts Joshua, “whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
This is a narrow way because it ultimately demands that we forsake our idols and deny ourselves. The broad way is the path of least resistance, the comfortable way with one’s self on the throne. It promises happiness in the chase after temporal things and temporal ideals. On this path one can glide upon the surface of life, ignoring conscience and other people if necessary. Its goal is self-fulfillment, and its modus operandi is to live as much as one can on one’s own terms. Where do we end up? Spent and utterly ruined.
The narrow way, by contrast, is about serving Jesus, the king of God’s kingdom—living on his terms, not our own. It demands that we enter through the narrow gate, that we turn around and turn away from ourselves. It means, in the words of Clarence Jordan, “to stop roaming the wastelands of self-will and submit ourselves joyfully to the discipline of the kingdom.” To lose oneself for the sake of this way is to find oneself; it is to find real life.
Those who walk the narrow way live not to better their own lot but to glorify God. This demands that we let go of everything in which we have previously put our trust and gained our self-worth. We can only fit through this gate if we abandon all the false securities we have depended on that this world offers. Moreover, this gate is only wide enough for one person at a time to fit through. You cannot enter through it just because you belong to the right crowd, even if it is “religious.” When Jesus calls us to himself, he calls us one by one and by name.
Helmut Thielicke notes that entering the narrow gate and walking the narrow path means “not only parting from our previous path; it also means the willingness simply to entrust ourselves to him and let him lead us down an utterly new, adventuresome, and strange road.” The narrow way can get lonely, especially if those you love wander further and further in a different direction. Even so, the narrow way opens up entirely new and better possibilities for human flourishing.
A Hard Way?
Some Bible translations refer to the “easy” and “hard” way. But these two words are absent in the Greek text. Jesus’ way is not hard nor is it idealistic. It is the way of deliverance from destruction, whereas remaining in the vicious cycles where everything revolves around oneself is a truly hard life. “To live Jesus’ way,” says Glenn Stassen, “is in tune with how we were created—for fellowship, for faithfulness, for peace.”
I do not think Jesus’ point is that his way is hard…. In fact, many of us have found that living a life of hostility, bitterness, and resentment toward others, or a life of deceit and not telling the truth, or a life of worrying all the time about prestige and what others think of us, or a life of always wanting more money for ourselves, or condemning others and trying to please the power the rule, is much harder than just living the way of Jesus. (Living the Sermon on the Mount)
The narrow way means that the kingdom of God gets compressed to a decisive point: Will we or will we not let Jesus be Lord over our lives? Only at this juncture, at this single point, at the gate where Jesus is standing beckoning our allegiance can the power of God be unleashed on the earth and give us the kind of life that satisfies our thirst and hunger. Clarence Jordan illustrates this as follows:
Take dynamite, for instance. It is a powerful thing, but in order for its power to be released it must be confined. You can’t get results by laying a stick of dynamite on top of or around the thing you wish to move. Gasoline is the same way. It generates power to turn the wheels of your automobile only when it is confined to the narrow walls of the engine’s cylinders. A river, too, when it stays within its channel, is capable of generating electricity and bearing might burdens of commerce on its shoulders. (Sermon on the Mount)
Jesus’ way may be hard on the flesh, but it need not be arduous. It’s like a flowing river, as Jordan puts it. Though it be confined, though it may transverse hard and difficult places, it teems with life and power and sets us free to be who God made us to be. It alone leads to the kingdom. Not only this, whoever drinks this of this water will never thirst again (John 4:13).
Your Turn
Why do so many people think Jesus’ way is hard? How hard is it? Just reply to this email to leave a comment.
What you express is not only elegant but so true. The world has its rules. It also has its heroes, which so many of us try to emulate. Bob Dylan's song, "You've Got to Serve Somebody," highlights the fact that all of us, in one way or another, consciously or not, are trying to live up to some kind of image. Who are we bound to? With Jesus, we don't have to "live up" to him. He comes to us. He descends. He reaches down. All for the purpose of helping us to walk right along side him along the narrow way.
What a great question -- why do so many people think Jesus' way is hard ...
It is hard to live a life in which we are to follow someone else. The ways of the world tell us to forge ahead, to be top of the heap, creating (whether we care to admit it) a constant 'crabs in a barrel' situation. Forever striving to be the best, to make the most, to be seen more often (social media and its constant promotion of the selfie is one of the best and current examples) is the antithesis of what Jesus taught. Life is not about us but about His Kingdom. Life is not about telling others how great we are but how great He is. Life is not about living for all the excesses we can get our arms around but about gaining to give away to those who need it more to show His love. And for many, that doesn't feel as good. It feels 'hard'. It feels like 'rules'. However, the rules of the world are much more tedious than anything the Lord has put before His people, if only we would open our eyes and hearts to receive that Word.