When a major sports event takes place, admission tickets may be priced at a thousand dollars or more. Because there is a limited capacity and because those sponsoring the event are profit-driven, prices are set high so that only a few can make it into the game. The more important the event, the greater the ticket prices.
What about admission into the Kingdom of God? Is the capacity limited? Are admission tickets expensive? Will only a few make it into the “game?”
Jesus talks about this issue today (Matthew 7:6,12-14).
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”
This rubs us the wrong way. It sounds like Jesus is favoring some kind of “closed borders” policy when it comes to being in the Kingdom of God. This sounds confusing to us because we know that God is a Father with open arms and his desire is that all men be saved. Is Jesus contradicting this when he says that it is hard to get into the Kingdom of God and few people will make it? How is it that if God wants everyone to be saved, he makes the gate so narrow?
At another time Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. He also said that many are called but few are chosen.
We accept the pricey tickets to sports events, but we don’t like the idea that the tickets to heaven are pricey. Poor people are discriminated against when it comes to attending important sports events. Yet it seems that the poor are favored when it comes to entering the Kingdom of God. Remember when Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God?”
It is not easy to follow Jesus. It is not easy to let go of some of our treasures and put Jesus first. It is not easy to let go of our own will and surrender ourselves to God’s will. And yet it is possible by God’s grace. Jesus said that with God all things are possible.
We know that if we follow the flow of the culture and do what everyone else is doing, we will be opting for the “broad road.” It is naïve to assume that such an approach to life will have a “happily ever after” ending. There are times when following Jesus will be unpopular with a world that wants everyone to conform to its latest, faddish standards.
Our “open-minded” society condemns the belief that there is only one way back to God, and that Jesus Christ is this way. It rejects the belief that there is only one gate into God’s sheepfold and that Jesus is that gate. Yet, we have been privileged to know the plan of God, and though it may seem restrictive, it is open to everyone who is willing to become like a little child and give their lives over to Jesus. We pray that God will trim us down so that we are able to fit through the narrow gate and be part of the “few” that travel the road that leads to life.
“I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
