Matthew 7:13-14, 21:1-11 “The Way for Christ”
This morning I want to start by sharing an article that was in the Honolulu Advertiser a few weeks ago (February 26th, 2008). The news story ran with the headline “Religions losing grip on Americans.” I am sure some of you must have read it. For those who did not, the story was about the results of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s poll that showed that 44% of Americans have either switched their religion or dropped out completely from all religious affiliation.
What this means is that our communities are ever more so at the point of believing in nothing. This means that the moral base that religion has provided in this country is crumbling away. I bring this up because when I consider the scripture for this morning about choosing the narrow path over the wide path, I realize that for us today we may not even be at the point of people willing to choose any path at all, wide or narrow!
Psalm 37:5 tells us to “commit our way to the Lord.” And, we have to read it today as not just that there is a way that we are supposed to be following that leads us to God, but also that we must be committed thereto. However, today trying to get any commitment from people is so difficult that it is not even a matter of what way to choose in life, they are lost with no way at all. They are not on the narrow road; they are not on the wide road. They are not on any road. There is no direction at all in their lives because they have no commitment to anything or anybody in their lives!
An atheist once
complained to his stalwart Christian friend, "You Christians have your
special holidays, such as Christmas, Palm Sunday, and Easter. You all celebrate
together. But, we atheists have no recognized national holidays. It's unfair
discrimination."
His friend
replied, "Why don't you celebrate April first!?"
When we look at Matthew 7:13-14, we see that Jesus is speaking during what is called now the “Sermon on the Mount.” People in Galilee had emptied out of their towns and villages to come hear Jesus preach. There were so many people that he had to stand on a mount to be above them so that he could be seen and heard. Those people had already made a commitment to follow Jesus out to that mount and to listen to him speak of God and righteous life. How hard it is today to get even that much of a commitment! “Will you just even take one hour a week to come and know your God?!”
Now, our scripture is not just about getting onto a path, a way of life, but about choosing the righteous path, the moral path, the godly path. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” This is in John 14. Thomas asks Jesus how he is to know his way in life. Jesus tells him straight up that he IS the WAY.
You probably have all heard the saying: “It’s my way, or the highway!” Jesus is telling Thomas “My way IS the high way!” “It is the way to get to God. It is the way of life over death. It is the way to heaven.” And, as we have read this morning, it is the more difficult way. The wide gate is the easy way, but it leads to destruction. The narrow way leads to salvation—and many never find it.
As many of you will know already, the church parsonage where our family resides is actually the former governor’s palace. The first governor of the island, Kaiokaiewa, would stand at the front middle arch of three arches and address the people of Kauai from that wide entry. Unbeknownst to the people then, but known to us today is the fact that he had an escape tunnel under the house that could be reached through a trap door. This escape tunnel led out to the cliff side, where a boat was kept ready for him if he needed to escape with his life.
This is really the kind of thing that Jesus was talking about when he mentioned the wide verses the narrow gate. Destruction comes through the wide gate—such as the people getting mad and wanting to sack the governor of the island. Salvation was through that narrow passage that was hard to find!
We are to enter the Kingdom of God through the narrow passage! Destruction is the other wide passage. The other day I was driving through the parking lot at Walmart in Lihue. I am sure most of you can identify with what I am about to tell you. As I was driving through looking for a place to park, this man started across the man street between me and where his car was parked pushing a basket. He was walking slowly as if he were lost, not knowing where he had parked his car. For some reason, he did not know or did not care that I was right behind him. He kept drifting to one side, and I would try to pass by him, but then he would start drifting to the other side and I would have to hit the brakes again. This went on for some time. The whole time I was thinking about this passage and praying to myself, “please choose a narrow path so that I can get by you already!” No, he chose the wide meandering path—the path that leads to destruction.
When we think about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, we see that all those people who were there rooting and cheering were really on the wide path. They were on the path that leads to destruction!!! They were at the wide gate that lets destruction through.
As Christians who live post-resurrection, we have to compare that triumphal entry through the wide gate to the long narrow way that Jesus took out of Jerusalem to Golgotha to be crucified. We compare the wide gate of the triumphal entry to the narrow entrance to the tomb where Christ was laid out. It was through that narrow gate on Easter morning that salvation came—new life came.
In making this comparison, we should also think about this in a metaphoric sense as it relates to the gates of our own hearts. Consider, if you will, for a moment that those people who are yelling hosanna at the entrance to Jerusalem have opened their hearts to Jesus. Yet, it does not seem that their hearts are truly changed to Christ as these same people are later nowhere to be seen as Jesus tips over the tables in the temple and causes a stir and when he is later before Pilate to be judged. Indeed, some of these same people were probably in the crowd yelling, “Crucify him!” They seemed to have accepted Jesus as their savior, yet it is not a personal acceptance that leads to a true faith in him. It is a shallow acceptance of one being swept up in a crowd.
No, the true path into anyone’s heart is a narrow path. Love comes through a narrow gate. It is the more difficult way that leads to true love of anyone, including Christ. So many authors have talked about this: Scott Peck has written the book The Road Less Traveled. Robert Frost has written that now famous poem about how he “took the road less traveled by and that that has made all the difference.” Even the Walt Disney story of Pocahontas has this same theme. Pocahontas is portrayed coming to a “y” in the river and she takes the rougher more exciting course.
I would like to think that everyone who comes to church on Sunday gets onto the right path with Christ. However, it has been my experience that church is a great place to celebrate the presence of Christ in our midst and to recharge ourselves with the Spirit, yet it is perhaps not the best place to have Christ come into your heart. The reason for this is much the same as what was happening during that triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The gates, or the doors of the church, are opened wide and everyone is welcome; yet, the true path to Christ is narrow.
When I talk with people who have recently come to know Christ in their lives, they repeatedly tell me over and over again that although the church is important to them, Christ came into their hearts through a loved one, a friend, a colleague, on a one-to-one basis.
I do not have to tell you that there really is little or no time for you to share your heart during worship. We are always singing, praying, listening for the voice of God as the larger body of Christ. In fact I have yet to preach that sermon where I stop and ask each individual here in church what is really laying heavy on their heart this morning. If I were to do that, I am afraid that our Sunday morning experience would turn into a weeklong prayer vigil.
Yet, in this church we have not only our time of worship together, but so many grand opportunities to do just what I have just hinted at: We can share faith intimately with one another. We can hear about what is truly on one another’s hearts. We share our sorrows and joys openly. And, in this way we feel the presence of Christ coming to us through that narrow door to our hearts that let us trust one another completely.
Recently I have said that we need to start more Bible Study groups here in the church because not everyone has the opportunity to come to the ones we already have. I want to let you all know that that is really a code. When a pastor talks about more Bible Study, he really is not asking you to memorize the entire New Testament verbatim. He or she is asking you to get into a smaller group with other believers because it is through this narrow gate that you will find Christ more readily in your lives.
In the first church that I served, there was an elderly man who came to church every Sunday. He was so faithful. He sat in the same pew for over forty years. Behind him was an elderly woman who sat in the same pew behind him for probably thirty years. One day she was taken up to the Lord. After about a month of noticing that the woman who sat behind him was no longer there, the elderly gentleman asked me what had happened to her. I was surprised by this because of course there had been prayers and a funeral for her already. The man confessed that he did not realize that that was who had died. You see, he had never bothered to learn her name. 30 years sitting next to each other in church! The narrow path had never been traversed between them.
This is the
true way for Christ: We take the narrow path that leads to the heart, to faith,
to love of Christ, and salvation. Amen.