By: Curtis Baker
This week we enter the final turn in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. The bulk of Jesus’ ethical teaching on what a “blessed” life in the Kingdom of God looks like is largely finished. In many ways, looking back on it, when one considers all that Jesus has asked of us in this sermon, it can be quite intimidating. Just the teachings on loving one’s enemies and putting worry out of our life are hard enough by themselves, much less everything else that Jesus has taught us in these three chapters. But Jesus has not taught us these things in order to give us anxiety. He knows how far his teaching is from the reality of our life, but he also knows what a truly blessed life is available to us if only we will become his students and begin to learn this way of life with him. That is why, in the final verses of the Sermon, Jesus gives his audience four pictures to help us understand.
The first picture Jesus presents is probably the most intimidating of the four. Here he explains that all who would seek to have this blessed life must enter in through a narrow gate. Unfortunately, the gate that leads to destruction is very wide, and most people enter right through it. But Jesus claims that only a few, relative to the number of all who had the potential, will enter in through the narrow gate.
There is some question at this point as to what the narrow gate is speaking. One of the most regular interpretations of this passage is that Jesus is talking about right doctrinal beliefs which will allow one to get into heaven. Over the last several hundred years you can imagine how that view dominated as those of us in the Western world lived in a society that was predominately Christian, but was also split up into all sorts of various denominations and traditions. In that kind of environment it is easy to see the narrow gate as one set of Christian beliefs set against all other traditions of belief. But this is not what Jesus is addressing in his sermon. The original audience would not have known any such distinctions. It is obvious from the context of Jesus’ own sermon that the narrow gate he is speaking of is simply obedience.
Jesus knew that people would try everything else rather than simply doing what he asked us to do. The wide gate is following your own way through life. As we look around at the general state of life, whether it be in terms of our town, our country, or the world in general, we see everywhere the destructive effects of every person doing what is right in their own eyes. People generally feel empty, lost, anxious, greedy, and are slaves to various different things that they would rather not be slaves to. But we are stubborn people. We think that if only we stick to our own path, things will turn out better. Jesus teaches us this is not so. There is a path that is wide which most people take, but it leads to destruction. Jesus knows the true path because he was the Son of God, and in being man and God, he showed us the path to a truly blessed life. His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is that path. To experience the richness of that life we must simply do what he says to do.
This, of course, does not discount the fact that we will struggle and stumble along the narrow path. For anyone who has tried to make serious changes in their life, they know that in most cases, serious change cannot happen quickly. But the inward change of heart that produces the actions that lead to a blessed life is what Jesus is teaching in this most famous of all sermons. To do that we must put our confidence in Jesus that he knows what he is speaking about, and do our best to learn from him how to do it. We can be assured that God will come along side us as we do so. It is his sole intention for us. It is who we were created to be.
(Don’t forget to join me for A Message from the Heart radio program Sunday evening at 8:00pm on KJAK 92.7FM, or streaming live at www.kjak.com)
(curtisbaker@hotmail.com) Write to: P.O. Box 157, Slaton, TX 79364
