In
today’s Gospel, someone poses a question, which more or less is
asking how many people will be saved, yet, Jesus, rather than
answering the question directly, instead, explains how one is to be
saved. He says: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
However, as many commentators point out that word “strive” carries a lot of weight, in fact, it was a word commonly used during the Grecian games in races, wrestling, and athletic exercises, and it meant to put forth all of one’s effort, to struggle so as to win.
What’s more, as you may have heard before, the cities, during the biblical days were guarded by walls, where the large gate would be opened for a group, while the small or narrow gate, would be used by a single or small group of travelers. The gate was so narrow that any excess that the camel or traveler was carrying needed to be shed in order to get through, and they would have to go individually, single-file.
Jesus is using this example to shows that only those who work hard, who struggle, will be able to get through the Narrow Gate. In fact, the narrow gate is narrow for a reason and it is not meant to be easy, it is not something that we can do the minimal amount of work to attain, rather, we need to fight, we need to struggle, we need to, indeed, strive to follow the right road.
As many saints and commentators have pointed out, the house is Heaven, The Master is God and the gate is the doorway that leads to Heaven. This is why there is this sense of urgency, but even more so, why Jesus emphasizes the importance of not just eating and drinking with the Master, that is, just going to Mass, but spending time with Him often, praying, being aware of His presence, struggling to do the right thing always and seeking holiness at all costs, so that, indeed then, He does know us.
However, as many commentators point out that word “strive” carries a lot of weight, in fact, it was a word commonly used during the Grecian games in races, wrestling, and athletic exercises, and it meant to put forth all of one’s effort, to struggle so as to win.
What’s more, as you may have heard before, the cities, during the biblical days were guarded by walls, where the large gate would be opened for a group, while the small or narrow gate, would be used by a single or small group of travelers. The gate was so narrow that any excess that the camel or traveler was carrying needed to be shed in order to get through, and they would have to go individually, single-file.
Jesus is using this example to shows that only those who work hard, who struggle, will be able to get through the Narrow Gate. In fact, the narrow gate is narrow for a reason and it is not meant to be easy, it is not something that we can do the minimal amount of work to attain, rather, we need to fight, we need to struggle, we need to, indeed, strive to follow the right road.
As many saints and commentators have pointed out, the house is Heaven, The Master is God and the gate is the doorway that leads to Heaven. This is why there is this sense of urgency, but even more so, why Jesus emphasizes the importance of not just eating and drinking with the Master, that is, just going to Mass, but spending time with Him often, praying, being aware of His presence, struggling to do the right thing always and seeking holiness at all costs, so that, indeed then, He does know us.
And,
by
that,
the choices we make will
become clearer and we will
see in the divided road the path we must take and the sacrifice that
is not just needed but, indeed, necessary.
The great American poet Robert Frost, wrote a very famous poem entitled “Road Not Taken,” and while there are a thousand different interpretations of that poem, as a priest, I have my own interpretation and that is to see in this poem our Gospel today, to see the choices that we are daily faced with and see in the person of the poem making not just an important decision, but a decision, like us, that will shape the very essence of his life.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, he says, and sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth.” If you know the poem, then you know that ultimately, he picks the road less traveled by, because, he understood that the path that was overgrown and not frequently used, was probably the right path.
Yet, this is why most of the choices that we make that draw us closer to God lead us on a path fraught with most difficulty and we find the most challenging, not because God likes to watch us suffer, but because, the suffering allows us to become stronger and worthy of the road that we walk. Jesus tells us to enter through the Narrow Gate, to follow the constricted road, because that is the path that leads to life, which is why that is the choice we are called to make, a choice that, indeed, affects our faith, to the point that we must live that faith as if our lives depended upon it, because, in essence, as He points out, it does.
Ultimately, there is little room in a narrow gate, so there needs to be dedication, there needs to be sacrifice, but, most important of all, there needs to be humility. Because, to even make that first step towards the gate, as our Gospel reminds, we need humility, we need that absolute trust that allows us to place before Christ those things that might cause us to pass Him by, those things that might prevent us from entering through that very narrow gate. So then, it is God who decides what is truly needed for us, it is He who decides what will get us through or what will prevent us.
The great American poet Robert Frost, wrote a very famous poem entitled “Road Not Taken,” and while there are a thousand different interpretations of that poem, as a priest, I have my own interpretation and that is to see in this poem our Gospel today, to see the choices that we are daily faced with and see in the person of the poem making not just an important decision, but a decision, like us, that will shape the very essence of his life.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, he says, and sorry I could not travel both, and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth.” If you know the poem, then you know that ultimately, he picks the road less traveled by, because, he understood that the path that was overgrown and not frequently used, was probably the right path.
Yet, this is why most of the choices that we make that draw us closer to God lead us on a path fraught with most difficulty and we find the most challenging, not because God likes to watch us suffer, but because, the suffering allows us to become stronger and worthy of the road that we walk. Jesus tells us to enter through the Narrow Gate, to follow the constricted road, because that is the path that leads to life, which is why that is the choice we are called to make, a choice that, indeed, affects our faith, to the point that we must live that faith as if our lives depended upon it, because, in essence, as He points out, it does.
Ultimately, there is little room in a narrow gate, so there needs to be dedication, there needs to be sacrifice, but, most important of all, there needs to be humility. Because, to even make that first step towards the gate, as our Gospel reminds, we need humility, we need that absolute trust that allows us to place before Christ those things that might cause us to pass Him by, those things that might prevent us from entering through that very narrow gate. So then, it is God who decides what is truly needed for us, it is He who decides what will get us through or what will prevent us.
Because,
in the end, as Christ says, many
will attempt to enter through that gate, but will not be strong
enough, it is only the last, those who are humble who will be first
and the first, who, indeed, will be last.
Add a comment