The narrow door
This week is on Luke 13:22-30:
These verses put the proverbial fire where it belongs. It goes along with the verses about the path to destruction being wide and the path to righteousness being narrow. It's a scary message. Most people aren't going to make it, and many among those who don't make it will have been convinced that they were going to make it.
The only clue he gives us is that there is a narrow door and that we should make every effort to enter through it. A narrow door requires some maneuvering to get through. You're not going to just stumble through it without being aware of it being there. You're not going to pull a cart through a narrow door without it snagging. If lots of people are trying to get through the narrow door, there's going to be a bottleneck, and you're going to want to be poised to squeeze through it when you see your opportunity open up.
Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a thing we force ourselves into sometimes. There's a sense of intentionality. We don't get accidentally saved. We both choose and are chosen. Our walk with God is narrow. If you were trying to get into a concert or a store opening on Black Friday, and the only door into the venue was a narrow one, you'd probably push and shove and do anything you could to make sure you were the first one in. That's the determination Jesus is describing. It's active, not passive.
And much like the crowd trying to shove their way into the narrow door, some who are in the front will make it in there after people who were in the back. Old ladies are experts at elbowing their way through crowds, for instance. There might be a big bulky guy in front who can't get through the door without more room to move around, while the little old lady slips under everyone's shoulders and through the door. If you just looked at people, you'd think the big guy would automatically win.
So we only have the rest of our lives to find God and get to know him. The door is narrow, and people keep pushing themselves through it. Are we going to wait for them to get in, and then start seeking a way in ourselves, or are we going to start now, hoping that we'll be like the old lady and slip our way past them to the front? Jesus' advice suggests that passivity leads to weeping and gnashing of teeth. Our spirituality should be an active thing.
So, in this new year, consider taking your faith very seriously. It's not a seat on a cruise ship. It's a scene from a zombie movie, where we run for our lives from an army of dead flesh determined to devour us if we become complacent. We want to get through that narrow door while there's still time. There's still time. Press in.
Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
These verses put the proverbial fire where it belongs. It goes along with the verses about the path to destruction being wide and the path to righteousness being narrow. It's a scary message. Most people aren't going to make it, and many among those who don't make it will have been convinced that they were going to make it.
The only clue he gives us is that there is a narrow door and that we should make every effort to enter through it. A narrow door requires some maneuvering to get through. You're not going to just stumble through it without being aware of it being there. You're not going to pull a cart through a narrow door without it snagging. If lots of people are trying to get through the narrow door, there's going to be a bottleneck, and you're going to want to be poised to squeeze through it when you see your opportunity open up.
Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a thing we force ourselves into sometimes. There's a sense of intentionality. We don't get accidentally saved. We both choose and are chosen. Our walk with God is narrow. If you were trying to get into a concert or a store opening on Black Friday, and the only door into the venue was a narrow one, you'd probably push and shove and do anything you could to make sure you were the first one in. That's the determination Jesus is describing. It's active, not passive.
And much like the crowd trying to shove their way into the narrow door, some who are in the front will make it in there after people who were in the back. Old ladies are experts at elbowing their way through crowds, for instance. There might be a big bulky guy in front who can't get through the door without more room to move around, while the little old lady slips under everyone's shoulders and through the door. If you just looked at people, you'd think the big guy would automatically win.
So we only have the rest of our lives to find God and get to know him. The door is narrow, and people keep pushing themselves through it. Are we going to wait for them to get in, and then start seeking a way in ourselves, or are we going to start now, hoping that we'll be like the old lady and slip our way past them to the front? Jesus' advice suggests that passivity leads to weeping and gnashing of teeth. Our spirituality should be an active thing.
So, in this new year, consider taking your faith very seriously. It's not a seat on a cruise ship. It's a scene from a zombie movie, where we run for our lives from an army of dead flesh determined to devour us if we become complacent. We want to get through that narrow door while there's still time. There's still time. Press in.
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