The Narrow Door

Jesus went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  And someone said to him, ‘ Lord will those who are saved be few?’  And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter by the narrow door’

– Luke 13

We are in the midst of Holy Week.  We are our way to the weekend that remembers the death and resurrection of Christ.  In this passage, we read about Jesus ‘on his way’ to his crucifixion at Jerusalem.  It is the day we remember as Good Friday (this coming Friday).  But as he is travelling to Jerusalem to his inevitable death, we are told something very important.  The question is asked of Christ:  Will those who are saved be few?  Jesus offers a somewhat cryptic answer:  Strive to enter by the narrow door.  At first blush this response is confusing to many.  But it shouldn’t be.

Think about it in common everyday life.  For all you football fans, can a kicker score an extra point or a field goal on just any part of the field?  Of course not.  The kicker is limited to the space between the goalposts.  Can a pilot land a plane just anywhere?  No.  If the pilot is to make a safe landing, she is restricted to the limits of the airfield landing strip.  The same is true with this question:  Lord will those who are saved be few?  When Jesus answers by talking about a narrow door, he is saying that this narrow door is precisely how anyone must come to God.

To walk through a narrow door, we must strip off every pretension we have.  All the things that clutter our lives, all the things that we are often loath to lose—we must give up.  

There is nothing we can take through the door when we go to God.  In fact nothing is all that will fit through this narrow door.  But we still try to fit through while carrying other things.  We try walking through the door with our good works or our moral behavior, and we think this will be my ticket to get in.  But it won’t work.  The way to God is so narrow that there is simply no room to bring these extras through.  Only when we are willing to shed everything can we draw near to him.  We cannot take anything with us.

But the good news is that we don’t have to.  Christ is our advocate, and we are allowed in precisely because of His shed blood and His broken body.  We are allowed to enter in because He paid the entrance fee.  That is worth remembering during this Holy Week.

Prayer:  Loving God, thank you for your grace which is free and available to all.  May we not only rest in knowing that you paid the price for us to enter the narrow door, may we not forget that it cost you everything.  Thank you for your loving kindness to us.  Amen.