First Discourse in Matthew: The Narrow Gate

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. ~ Matthew 7:13-14
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. ~ Oscar Wilde

These two verses have often been used to describe who's in and who's out: ie:, who gets to go to heaven...

 And who is kept out and ends up in the other place because of their destructive behavior (ie: their sin)...

 But remembering that Jesus was one who came to initiate the Kingdom of Heaven now - that for Jesus, eternal life was not some future event - how does this change our hearing of this text?

 Remembering that everything Jesus did on earth involved some kind of healing - either physical or spiritual - can't we imagine that Jesus wanted us to experience a whole, healed, full, meaningful life...

 Now?

 And don't we sometimes find that hard to do?

 Do we get caught up in ways of life that are destructive: anger, jealousy, fear, consumerism, pride? Ways that keep us from living whole, generous lives?

 Do we sometimes, as Oscar Wilde puts it, simply exist? Move from day to day without pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones?

 I know that there are many days that is true for me.

 It's easy, Jesus lets us know, to just live life without purpose, calling, or servanthood. It's easy to get caught up in our mere existence to the point where we forget to truly live each moment to the fullness that we are called to.

 Knowing that we have a God of grace - one who heals and loves - how can we think that the narrow gate is one meant to keep out?

Meditation: Spend time in silence asking where life is meant to take you today.

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