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

 

 "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.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good 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 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.  Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  

 "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."  There is a long history of the "two ways" in Judaism and in Christianity that followed.  See in the Hebrew Scriptures Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Proverbs 4:18-19, 12:28, 15:21; Wisdom of Sirach 15:17.  In early Christian writings both the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas speak to these two ways.  Luke's version of this statement (Luke 13:24-30) is more eschatological in nature, and refers to the end of the age.  My study Bible comments that, because we wrestle against sins and human weaknesses as well as spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12), to enter the Kingdom is the more difficult way.  

"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.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good 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."  My study Bible comments that, because they can easily deceive others, those who put on a show of virtue or religion are more dangerous than those who are evil outright.  So, therefore, we must be all the more cautious among those who are outwardly virtuous.  Regarding the statement, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," John the Baptist said the same in Matthew 3:10.  

 

 "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."   This verse coupled with the next (which is not included in today's reading, but will be in tomorrow's lectionary reading) makes a strong testimony to the deity of Christ.  Here, Jesus calls Himself Lord.  This refers to the divine name "Yahweh" of the Old Testament.  He also speaks of the will of My Father, which He fully knows and shares. 

 

 The "two ways," as my study Bible indicates, is an important concept in Christianity, and follows on the strong evidence in the Jewish tradition.  Jesus gives us a vivid and lasting image in encapsulating this idea when He says, "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."  That "broad way" might be something our modern Western societies can easily image in the cornucopia of real or imagined spiritual ways that fill up our various media, and all the options that seem to be out there, with new images every day of possible paths to spiritual enlightenment.  There seems to be no end of systems people can invent, combine, or imagine based on the fragmentary ideas of spiritual systems of the past that seem to be offered through what might be euphemistically called multiculturalism.  A real multiculturalism is an idea of pluralism.  That is, cultures well-developed and whole, internally cohesive and sensible.  But what happens with a smorgasbord of choices whose origins are not completely clear and may be obscured by popular myth or cultural references isn't the same.  There is a way in which the thread of faith in Christ can lead us through all kinds of things to come to Him, and many can testify to this.  But those individuals would say the gate is narrow, and the true way is the more difficult -- the broad assortment of pickings from here and there, from one aspect of one thing to another, is a misleading attribute of what does not lead us to the place of true freedom, the Door who is Christ.  In a cacophony of choices, we find misleading answers that can temporarily dazzle, we find cults that offer us indulgence but capture us in a kind of slavery or worship to a human being, and we find destructive ideologies that proclaim to be ideals but offer little in the way of true compassion and the practice of mercy.  What we need to think about is how our choices can in fact reflect a responsible freedom, one that reflects what Christ teaches:  our own capacity for self-discipline and self-knowledge, and the cultivation of acts of mercy which come from a loving heart devoted to God, and putting the Kingdom first before our own selfish desires.  This is the way He gives us, the one which goes through that narrow gate He offers, and leads to His life for us.  For false prophets and bad trees are still with us and they proliferate; but the good tree that bears good fruit is what we will find through His narrow gate.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came here from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here."

- Matthew 12:33-42

In yesterday's reading, the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Jesus responded with a statement that condemned blasphemy against the Spirit - saying that all manner of words against the Son of Man would be forgiven, but not against the Holy Spirit. Today, Jesus' dialogue continues with scribes and Pharisees.

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment." My study bible has the following note on these verses: "Jesus pronounces a severe judgment against the blasphemers of the Spirit. As the tree is revealed by its fruit, a human being is known by his works. He will do according to the kind of person he is. The blasphemers are a brood of vipers (v. 34; see 3:7; 23:33) because of their evil works and malice. Their heritage is of no value to them; they bear no fruit appropriate to a chosen people. The heart (v. 35) in Scripture refers to the center of consciousness, the seat of the intellect and the will, the source from which the whole of spiritual life proceeds. When grace permeates the heart, it masters the body and guides all actions and thoughts. When malice and evil capture the heart, a person becomes full of darkness and spiritual confusion." Jesus adds, "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." This reminds me of the passage in the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus expands upon the statute against murder. (See You shall not murder.) In that part of the Sermon, Jesus teaches that words can cause harm and hurt - they can be a form of murder, a careless expression that is as much in the spirit of murder as the act itself. Our words against others can incite violence, and diminish others. In our passage today, Jesus emphasizes the importance of words and our speech. Not only do they make an impact, but they also convey responsibility upon us for what exactly we utter. More than that, they convey what is in the heart.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." My study bible notes, "In their request for a sign, some spectacular display, the scribes and Pharisees show their wickedness. After so many miracles, they now ask Jesus for such a sign? But Jesus will not cater to their hard-heartedness. His sign will be his Passion and Resurrection from the dead." As Jesus' act of healing by exorcism - returning sight and speech to one who was blind and mute - is both a messianic sign and was labeled as sorcery by the Pharisees (see yesterday's reading), they now ask him for a sign. This is to prove his status as Messiah - or, as he refers to himself, the Son of Man.

But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." A note here reads: "Adulterous generation echoes the analogy of the prophets for the infidelity of Israel (Jer. 2:1-3, 20-25, 32, 33; 3:1-5; Hos. 2:2-13)." Christ is the bridegroom; he seeks his bride. This is what the Church will come to be called, the bride of Christ. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem or Israel is called the bride of the Anointed One (Christ or Messiah). It is in this context that Jesus pronounces his words here.

"The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came here from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here." With the examples of the men of Nineveh and the queen of the South, Jesus returns to his theme about witnessing the holy - and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Both the men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South had hearts that were not hardened, but were capable of grasping and understanding spiritual truth and reality before them. Both had their minds open to wisdom. But the Pharisees fail in this context; and Jesus says that they will be judged by the acts of the others, who heard and understood. The Pharisees, he's saying, are incapable of repentance; that is, "change of mind" or metanoia in the Greek. They don't want to change. They are not willing to hear. They do not wish to open their spiritual eyes and ears and be healed. When Jesus taught his disciples why he preached using parables, he said the following about those who could not grasp spiritual truth: "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.' " In the Pharisees and scribes, we have a greater degree of hard-heartedness. Not only are they the ones who understand the scriptures, but they are also witness to the acts of the Holy Spirit in their presence, which they, having been so prepared, should be able to receive and understand.

So, we conclude again, as in yesterday's reading, that the importance of our choices is reflected here. We are responsible for what we say about others, what we are quick to condemn. We are responsible for our own judgment. And in that judgment, we must be wary of our own hard-heartedness. We must look for what we fail to grasp - because in that failure we may be rendering a judgment upon ourselves. This is a text that speaks to us of openness, of our eyes wide open to the power of holiness - which is ever-creative and appears in new forms all the time. In another reading which was part of Jesus' teaching of the parable of the Sower (in the gospel of Mark), I mentioned what I heard in a sermon given by Deacon Candice Corrigan. Candice preached that Lent was a time for "making room" for God. Here, the limitations of hard-heartedness make it clear that there is no room for the holy. There is no room for eyes to be opened or ears to hear what they cannot hear. There is no room for change, for repentance (metanoia) or "change of mind." What do you make room for in your life? How will you be like the men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South, and make room for wisdom - perhaps in a new and startling form - when you hear it?

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. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good 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 into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."

- Matthew 7:13-21

For nearly two weeks, we've been going through the readings of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Those readings include The Beatitudes, Salt and Light, Till heaven and earth pass away, You shall not murder, If your right eye causes you to sin, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Your father who is in the secret place, Our Father in heaven, No one can serve two masters, Solomon in all his glory and The plank in your own eye. In today's reading, Jesus begins the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.

"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." My study bible notes, "This description of the two ways is widespread in Judaism (Deut. 30:15-20; Ps. 1; Prov. 4:18,19; 12:28; ...), and in early Christian writings (Didache, Barnabas). Luke's version (Luke 13:24-30) is more eschatological, referring to the end of the age. Because we wrestle against human sins and weaknesses, as well as the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12), entering the Kingdom involves difficult (v. 14) labor and struggle (11:12)." Jesus has been teaching, throughout all of these readings of the Sermon on the Mount, the ways of discipleship . They are many in this long sermon, but with a common theme of dedication, choice, and the need to adhere to a way of life that promotes love in action. That includes our own sense of ourselves and our flaws, and our willingness to cast out that which is a part of our character which has to go. This is a process of discipline, growth and change - and transcendence of a more worldly notion of justice to one which is merciful and requires forbearance. Not an easy task! But his words here indicate that the choice is ours.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Again, I'll quote a helpful note: "Jesus charges us to beware because it is possible to be deceived by those who wear a mask of virtue but are false prophets (24:4,24), or wolves, who live corrupt lives (10:16; Zeph. 3:3; John 10:12; Acts 20:29)." As one can see from the note, Jesus repeatedly uses this image of wolves in sheep's clothing. It is a warning about those who would deceive - who would devour the flock they are supposed to lead and guide. Jesus calls himself "the Good Shepherd" in John's gospel, who "lays down his life for the sheep" and "whose sheep know him, and he knows his sheep." To be a ravenous wolf is to take advantage, to be predatory. He will also warn that there will be those who come in his name who are false prophets as well, and will do the same. Here, his warning is to beware that his words in the Sermon are true. Don't be fooled by those who would lead astray for their own gain. Remember his words and his teachings on love and love in action - they are the ones that his disciples - and their leaders - should live by.

"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. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit." Again, another note is helpful: "As long as a person is living in wickedness, he will not be able to bear good fruit. But Jesus does not say that there is no way for the wicked to change, or for the good to fall away. (See also 12:33-35)." I've had the misfortune to be in a church where the pastor fit the description of a wolf in sheep's clothing: he was far more interested in his remuneration - what money and other goods were available to him - than the spiritual welfare of his flock. This, in turn, created dissension and strife in the church. At several successive churches, the strength of the congregation's faith fortunately saved their own churches from his behavior, but not before damage was done. Clearly, there are fruits by which we can know what is within. We could also apply this teaching to any form of cult behavior, wherever it may be found, and the damage done by bad teachings - often, again, designed to enrich the leader's pocketbook. It is the predatory nature described by the "wolf in sheep's clothing" that will create the bad fruits that we will come to know - that Jesus is warning us we must beware of.

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." The judgment that must come will deal with the branches that bear bad fruit. My study bible points out that John the Baptist makes this same statement in Matthew 3:10: "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them." As in other teachings in the gospels, Jesus tells us we are to watch - we are not blind sheep, but rational, intelligent sheep. So, an important part of the teaching of discipleship in the Sermon on the Mount is about our own responsibility for remaining aware, awake, not sleeping complacently - but knowing and understanding his teachings, and the good fruit they bear. It is a strong emphasis here on discipleship among all the followers; it is we who must watch anyone we call a leader or choose to follow. Jesus wants, if you will, an educated, intelligent following of his flock, in which his sheep are fully formed spiritually, and through this sermon (and of course, the spiritual help that will come with the Comforter) he gives them the strength and the ability to think for themselves and to understand his teachings. In this way, too, he is the Good Shepherd who gives everything to his flock.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." Jesus here testifies to his own deity, referring to himself as "Lord, Lord" and teaching about judgment. Today's reading finishes on this note of warning and of choice - these are the tools of discipleship. To vary from them, to produce false fruits not of these teachings of love in action, is to withdraw one's citizenship in this kingdom. Ultimately, it is also testimony to Jesus' relationship - as "Lord" - to his Father in heaven. The Father's will is the ultimate arbiter of these teachings, what he seeks to impart to us, and what will determine citizenship and participation in this kingdom.

So, what we choose is all-important. We read the words of the Sermon on the Mount, and we come to understand what it is to live our discipleship. It is love in action, and we cultivate the virtues of that love: humility, self-knowledge, mercy, peace and righteousness. We live with the justice of right-relatedness. This is the narrow gate, we are not to abuse it. And we are to be aware of abuse in any of our leaders, anyone whom we would think to follow. We are to be rational sheep, good disciples, to remember his words and to follow them. Above all, and in all, we are related to God the Father, through prayer and active seeking. We live in relationship, as he would have us relating to one another, with the will of the Father as guide to living life in that kingdom - on earth as it is in heaven. This is the narrow gate - and we are to beware of those who would lead us from it.