Enter by the narrow gate

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

- Matthew 7:13-21

Jesus has been preaching His Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew's Gospel. We have been through the Beatitudes, the teaching that His followers are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, His expansion on the law against murder into thoughts that lead to conflict, His teachings about what we dwell on and what we are better off without, teachings on the laws of justice, and on spiritual discipline and prayer - including the Our Father. Jesus then taught about the importance of what we choose, what we love; and that we cannot serve two masters - God and mammon. Finally He taught about our relationship to God and to our neighbors, the holy mysteries, and the Golden Rule as the summing of the Law and the Prophets - see Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." To enter by the narrow gate is to teach us that we must take great care of how we go forward in life. To take seriously the teachings we are given - and especially the relationship to God within our hearts - is the way to go forward. This is not, however, a relationship of fear but a relationship of love, and we seek that loving guidance in how we approach life. This is the kind of attention Jesus is teaching us to pay. We really don't know, of ourselves, what is the best course forward - what we may need to change in our thinking, how we go forward toward a goal that is not truly in our sights. Only the perspective of a God who is love - and all that belongs to that kingdom and its grace - can lead us there.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them." Jesus expands here on teachings that intertwine the truth about the "narrow gate" and His many teachings against hypocrisy, and trying to serve two masters. False prophets are those who are hypocrites - "actors" - who pose as one thing but are truly another. And He is teaching His followers that even those who claim to come in His name may fall into this category. As His sheep, we are to be intelligent and awake, vigilant. Not only is the way narrow and we need to choose our steps with care in this relationship of love, but we must also watch for false prophets - and who we put our trust in. We are to be discerning, and look for the fruits of a "bad tree." So, in all that Jesus teaches, He builds up our own internal reality and the powerful presence of God and the kingdom that must be with us and in our hearts, and cultivated through the relationship of love.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." My study bible points out that this is a part of a testimony to His deity (the rest will come in tomorrow's reading). But what is essential here is a great summing up of Jesus' teachings against hypocrisy of all kinds, especially with regard to religious practice -- and the need for us to choose carefully what we will serve. Most powerfully is the understanding that we are to seek to do "the will of My Father in heaven." To pray, then, to cultivate that relationship within ourselves, is essential in this context. How else do we face with vigilance the ways we may be led astray by "false prophets?" How else do we guard ourselves against "acting" if our hearts are not there in prayer, without that basic loving relationship? It is for this, after all, that He has left us with Himself, a Companion and Comforter, a Spirit of truth. It is this we cling to, to help us understand the narrow way. All these gifts teach us that we are blessed with help for the fullness of true life, and to be the ones He asks us to be -- the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

There are many deceptions in life, I have found. There are many who are wolves in sheep's clothing, whose fruit is the fruit of greed and selfishness, of chaos and slavery and not peace and the fruits of spirit. What sees us through it is what we choose to bear in our hearts, what we choose to serve. A loving relationship to our Creator belongs in us and with us and among us -- and it is this that truly builds His church and teaches us where to go in life, how to choose. I have found that the grace of God's gifts to us has helped me to have an abundant life, to feel more fully life itself and the individual gifts He has given me, how to use them and how to go forward. In today's reading, Jesus teaches us further about making choices - about the narrow gate we walk through each day, the steps God would ask us to take. And that narrow gate excludes those seeking the easy way, who will come to us posing as something that is good but are too selfish to bear good fruit. Finally, we remember His teachings on hypocrisy, and when we cry "Lord, Lord" we must know it is all about guiding our footsteps into that relationship of love, so that we too may be a part of that kingdom. What does God teach you today, and how do you go forward into that gate? How do you remember His teachings?