Two Gates

                Matthew 7: 13, 14     Luke 13: 22-27

        In the thirteenth chapter of Luke, as Jesus is making his way through the towns and villages of Judea on his way toward Jerusalem, someone in the crowd asks: “will those who are saved be few?” Jesus answers that the door to heaven is not wide, but narrow, that they should strive to enter through the narrow gate, that many who seek to enter it will not be able.

A similar lesson appears in the gospel of Matthew, this time introducing the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says: “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.”

Just before this verse, Jesus restates the Golden Rule, saying: “In everything do to others as you would have them do for you.” Jesus says this is the law and the prophets, meaning this is all you need to know about what God has commanded for us. If we are to understand what Jesus is getting at about the two gates, we must pay attention to what comes before and behind. Before, Jesus says love your neighbor. After, Jesus says beware of false prophets. In the meat of this literary sandwich, he talks about the roads of life we choose, the gates we enter. The choices we make affect the life we lead and the destination to which it takes us. Living by the Golden Rule is a choice. So is who you listen to.

When you travel the Interstate highway, even numbered highways go east and west and odd numbered highways go north and south. When you come to the entry of the interstate, you are faced with a choice. If you are on highway 85 or 95, as is often the case here, you must choose. North or South? Which will it be?  I have found one exception. If you are in Florence and going to the beach, you can save time by going north for seven miles on I85. Then you go south again. For seven miles, you go opposite of your chosen direction. Sometimes life makes you do the same thing.

In these two passages, Jesus is not concerned about saving time. He is concerned about saving lives. In Matthew there are two gates. In Luke, there is a door, and at some point, the door shuts. What do these evangelists want us to see?

In his gospel account, Matthew has Jesus opening up two possibilities, the narrow and the wide gates, the narrow leading to life and the wide leading to destruction. Have you ever thought about such implications? Have you ever seen your life in this way? Where are the gates? Are they marked? Surely one would not pick the path to destruction purposefully!

In Matthew, Jesus talks to a gathering of many, maybe thousands. All are facing choices. Shall they go home? Shall they follow this young preacher who says he is the Son of God? What if they do? Will it make a difference in their day? In their lives?

In Luke, our Savior seems to be teaching on the move, bringing his pupils to understand that there are choices, and that those choices do not stay forever at our disposal. Many parables follow in this discourse. In their own way, they all point to the choices in our lives and the outcomes to which they lead.

The picture on the screen is of a path. It’s just a dirt path. When the path gets to the tree, it forks. Now there are two paths. Life works like that. You go along, minding your own business, trying to stay on the straight and narrow, and then your path forks. Now you have a choice. The paths look pretty much the same. One might be a little wider and more worn, but not that much different. One path is with friends from church. The other is with some new and exciting friends you don’t know too well. One path will keep you out beyond your curfew or make you late for an appointment. But shucks, life is short. Better make hay while the sun shines. Life is one set of choices after another, and each comes with its own set of consequences.

So many consequences from what at first blush looks like a small choice. Wouldn’t it be nice if the paths were marked? One would say Life, the other Destruction. That’s what Jesus seems to be saying to us in the Matthew account. But usually, these choices look more like left or right, or today or tomorrow. They don’t look that dangerous at the time. It’s just a pill to keep you awake.  Or a drink to calm your nerves. Or a little shop-lifting just to add spice to a boring day. It’s just another one of those gates. Not that big a thing, is it?

When you start paying attention, you begin to notice that those gates are everywhere. You first thought it was just about minding your parents or obeying the law. Then it was about your friends or your habits. Sometimes it seems like there is nothing that doesn’t involve choices. And that’s exactly what Jesus is getting at. Life starts out looking like a super highway and somewhere down that road and all too soon, it turns into a one-way street with no shoulders.

So in Matthew, Jesus seems to tell us that entering the

wrong gate can ruin our life, and that many people do just that. Then in Luke, he tells us that the way to life is about getting through that narrow door of belief and obedience and that you had better not tarry, for the door will shut one day. When it does, no amount of knocking will get you in.

          Man! That’s several different ways to fail. Pick wrong. Pick late. Either way, you’re on the outside looking in. It seems like the deck is stacked against us.

          But read on. Remember to eat the whole sandwich and not leave the crust. In Matthew, Jesus is telling us to practice what we say we believe by treating others as we want to be treated. Then on the other side, he warns us to watch who’s doing the talking.  Check the warranty. Kick the tires. Sometimes, those leaders speak from both sides of the issue and say nothing except give your money right here.

          Luke is also instructive. Before we get to the narrow door, we are asked to repent, to change our ways. On the other side of the door story are several parables which bear remembering right here. After the parables of the wedding feast and the great banquet, which warn us to be ready, come two more parables: that of the lost sheep and of the prodigal son. There is our Savior, reaching out for us, going to find us, bringing us back from the edge of the cliff and saving us with his unconditional love. There is the prodigal son, spent and washed up. He has walked a far piece past the wide gate of destruction. And yet, he turns. Just like going north on I85 to get to the southbound road, he finds a path back to where he began and he takes it. The trail may not be marked, but he finds his way. And at the end of that not so well marked path waits his father with open arms, taking him in and celebrating the return of the lost son who is now---found! These, too are the stories of Jesus. These, too, are the stories of God!

          Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. One of his poems seems to fit the situation so well today, I thought you might like to hear it. I hope it speaks to you as it did to me.

                    Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

Two gates? Yes. And there are consequences to our actions. But there is forgiveness before the throne of grace for those who turn back or choose that narrow road.