The Narrow Path and Wide Way

This morning I was reflecting on a passage from Matthew 7, the description of the narrow path that leads to life.  I have reflected on these passages a few times and decided to do some online searches to see what others were saying about these verses.  Many times other authors will have insight that is very helpful to me.   I ran across two articles that I found interesting and helpful, each with a slightly different approach to the same verses.  Here is the first expose on those verses and found it quite helpful:

"Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. –Matthew 7:13-14, NET

"The beauty of Yeshua’s teaching here is easily lost through a number of false assumptions:
(1) Yeshua’s main concern is where people will dwell in the life to come
(2) Yeshua teaches that few will ultimately find a good afterlife
(3) Destruction and life are terms referring primarily to the afterlife

Each of these assumptions can be shown false.

First, in the overall tenor of Yeshua’s teaching, the concern is as much about this life as the life to come. Not shying away from strong teaching about the life to come, nonetheless, Yeshua speaks often of kingdom realities now, discipleship in the present, and abundant life now and not merely in the life to come. Furthermore, the immediate context of Matthew 7:13-14 is discipleship in this life:
…7:1-5, Avoiding an overcritical spirit
…7:6, Avoiding a naive spirit
…7:7-11, Trusting God for good things
…7:12, The Golden Rule
…7:13-14, The narrow and wide roads
…7:15-20, Good and bad fruit
…7:21-23, The claimers and the knowers
…7:24-27, The house on sand and the house on bedrock

Second, Yeshua does not picture God’s redemptive love as being limited to a few or inclusion in God’s kingdom as an elite accomplishment of the few. Far from it, Yeshua proclaims hope for unimportant people, the poor and downtrodden, the masses. His descriptions of God’s redemptive love picture the gentiles coming to faith. He opposes the elitist strain of Israel’s current leaders (priests, Sadducees, aristocrats, scribes, Pharisees). He deliberately describes many being in the kingdom:
…I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (8:11).
…the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (20:28).
…Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them (5:3).
…For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry (11:30).
…look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest! (John 4:35).

Many other sayings of Yeshua speak of many downtrodden people being called to God’s banquet, God rejoicing at finding and redeeming sinners, of unrighteous people finding God’s forgiveness, of Yeshua as the physician for sin-sick souls, of his seeking and saving the lost, as the shepherd bringing in many sheep into the fold, and so on.

Third, in keeping with wisdom teaching such as the book of Proverbs, and Yeshua’s teaching often relates to the wisdom literature of the BIble, life and destruction are descriptions of conditions in this life. People are destroyed when they lose all peace and choose the seductive path of immediate success and gratification. Their lives wind up empty and filled with pain. But those who choose the harder path of discipline, submission to correction, learning wisdom, and choosing the fear of heaven find abundant life.

In context, Yeshua’s saying about the wide and narrow road is about those few who find and practice wisdom, discipleship, and specifically Yeshua’s teaching in this life. It is not about God limiting redemption to the few who find and follow such a path. If we want to discuss the limits of God’s saving and who will be redeemed and who will not, we simply will have to look to other biblical passages (or, perhaps we will find that ultimately the question is not answered with any specificity in the Bible).

The call to follow Yeshua’s teaching is not about our final destiny, but about knowing life, joy, peace, wisdom, responsibility, discipline, and the hard, but rewarding, work of love in this life. Few will follow this path. But Yeshua defines it as true life and the broad path of self-service, substitute joys, and empty gratification is really destruction."

The original article can be found at:  http://yeshuaincontext.com/2010/10/the-narrow-road/

I found the approach of balancing these words of Jesus against the rest of scripture, and His other teachings very helpful.  Sometimes we can read a set of verses like this and develop a focus and teaching around these few verses, and forget everything else Jesus said and did.  Considering His teachings against the backdrop of His other teachings is one way we can keep ourselves from aberrant teaching.  We really need to learn to read scripture within the context of all of scripture, and not just take a few lines and use them to change our course of thought and life.  It would be very easy to read these verses and develop a very judgmental perspective, opening ourselves up to spiritual pride as we believe ourselves to be on the narrow path, and one of the few that have found it.

Here is a second article focusing the historical context of Jesus' comments  on the narrow path and wide way as described by Jesus in Matthew, Chapter Seven.

"As we walked through Israel, the contrast was striking between the humble Jewish villages and the imposing Roman cities. The Jewish community in the village of Capernaum lived in simple basalt houses that were close together, and often were a maze of rooms that were added as the family grew. A synagogue was centrally located in the town, suggesting that faith and family were what mattered most here.

In contrast, a few miles away, the Roman city of Beth Shean had a large theater and public bath houses, and a wide central street (cardo) that was lined on both sides by ornate columns, showing visitors the glory of the Roman culture that built it. In fact, the Romans made a point of constructing enormous gates with statues to emperors and pagan gods, and widening roads for their chariots and armies. All of their construction was intended to convince the onlooker that their way of life was superior to all other ways.

One scholar suggests that Jesus may have been thinking of the Roman gates and roads when he spoke about the wide roads that lead to destruction, and how alluring they are compared to the narrow old paths. He may even have been speaking of the Temple, whose gates were ornate, but narrow in comparison to the massive entrances into the pagan poleis.

As Jesus watched wealthy Gentiles arrive at the opulent city gates of Beth Shean, he knew they were literally walking into a life of futility - thinking only of wealth and politics and social standing, and worshipping lifeless gods that could not save. Jesus knew that the humble paths into the Jewish towns led to synagogues where the words of the true God could be read. And inside the narrow gates of the Temple were the courts where prayers were offered to the God who actually could answer.

Jesus, of course, was especially talking about what it is like to follow him. It is a narrow, humble path that few choose to follow, in contrast to the wide colonnades of wealth and glory that attract the rest of the world. But, surprisingly, the old, dusty road that this Rabbi trod is ultimately the path the leads to life, now and in the world to come."

The original article can be found here: http://www.egrc.net/articles/Rock/Land_Lessons/NarrowGates.html

I found this reflection very helpful in considering the actual historical context in which Jesus was speaking.  The article provided a nice picture of the "Roman Way" the road running through Beth Shean, and it was quite wide and spacious.  The architecture of Rome spoke much of their approach to life, the things they pursued, and it was a stark contrast to the historical approach of the Jews.

It is interesting that Jesus was effectively introducing a new way, a new path to the Father, that within the greater context of the Jewish faith would seem like a narrow path as well.  In fact, the early Christians called themselves followers of The Way (See Acts 9:2) and that was likely evolved from this teaching of Jesus. They had to turn towards Him, and the original followers were few.  They came to understand that Jesus was introducing a relational approach to faith that was anchored in each person's heart and being through the indwelling Holy Spirit, which was quite different from what they traditionally experienced in the Temple.

I like to think that we are each on a path, and we are right to look to the Lord to guide us on this path.  My path may be quite different from my other brother's and sister's paths, and that is just fine, as long as I follow the Lord.  He desires us each to walk in individual relationship with Him.  There are many broad ways with many people following, but for each of us, we need to hear Him speak and follow His leading. It is in relationship with Him that we find life.

Lord, thank You for leading me to You!  Thank You for guiding my feet on the narrow path as I follow You in relationship.  Help me to do better in following You!