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“Narrow Gates”
Matthew 7:13,14
A Sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
“Enter
through the narrow gate”, says Jesus. This
probably has little to do with actual doorways and our relative girth. It has
more to do with making choices that are sound and that will bring about the
most hope, healing and health to us, our community and our world. Jesus wants us to pay attention to what we do
and how we live. He wants us to live
righteous lives. We are to enter through
the narrow gate. We are to be
responsible and healthy in our determination to be faithful witnesses to God’s
revelation.
We are good
people who try to do the right thing. We
try to be the best we can be. We try to
enter into Jesus’ narrow gate. But how
do you determine the narrow gate? More
importantly, how do you know you’re going through the correct narrow gate?
There’s an old Sacred Harp song that speaks to this:
Broad is
the road that leads to death
and thousands walk together there;
But wisdom
shows a narrow path,
with here and there a traveler
“Deny
thyself and take thy cross”
is the Redeemer’s great command;
Nature must
count her gold but dross,
if she would gain this heavenly land.
The fearful
soul that tires and faints
and walks the ways of God no more
Is but
esteemed almost a saint
and makes his own destruction sure
Lord, let
not all my hope be vain,
create my heart entirely new
Which
hypocrites could ne’er attain,
which false apostates never knew.
(#38b
“Enter by the narrow gate”, Says Jesus.
Conservatives
often criticize folk like us because we are not strict enough with our
beliefs. When we welcome and affirm
people wherever they are on life’s journey, aren’t we saying that anything
goes? That’s the legitimate criticism of
many. Isn’t it making our gates very
wide indeed? That is our Achilles
heel. That is our blind-spot.
We are
criticized for not holding high enough standards for our people. I think they are wrong. We hold very high standards for people. We take our faith extremely seriously. We
just don’t agree on the standards.
We progressives often criticize the conservatives for making their way too narrow.
This weekend, we witnessed a narrowing of the gates of welcome in our Mid-American Baptist Region. Jean Lubke made a profound and powerful statement yesterday about the way belief has changed regarding women and people of African descent in our churches. She bravely proclaimed gays and lesbians as today’s people of color and women. As she said this, people shouted down and vilified her. The later votes to deny ordination recognition rights to our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers was a narrowing of the gate, indeed—making it too narrow for many of us to fit through.
I had waited not-so-patiently for my turn to speak, but discussion was cut off before I got my word in. I don’t think it would have changed much of anything. So as voted were counted I stood from my front row seat and looked at the assembly gathered before me. Some were laughing and congratulating each other. Others were sitting in mute silence. Still others were interested in the football scores. Many of the one who voted with us were demoralized and suffering mightily. I stood so that I could look in the faces of my sisters and brothers—it was mostly brothers. I resisted the temptation to make my eyes shoot daggers at people. That took a lot. But mostly I felt angry and sad for these people. I felt sad that they forsook us and our community in such a cavalier manner. I looked at them and prayed for them that they might have a change of hearts. And maybe they would see the face of one whom they had hurt and recognize him as a brother instead of an enemy. I stood longing for that day when we all might pass though a narrow door together.
Ironically,
Baptists were founded upon the premise that there was too much narrowing of the
gates put on by denominations. Church
hierarchy gets into trouble as it tries to get faith communities or even
individuals to march to their orders. Baptists sought to overcome the
powers of ecclesiastical tyranny by saying that no one
can tell another Baptist what to believe.
No one can tell another Baptist church how to govern itself.
No one can tell a Baptist how to interpret the Bible.
No state
should be able to tell a person how to live out their faith. This is the life-blood of what it means to be
a Baptist. It means that each person has
the right and the responsibility to make up their own minds about the Bible’s
interpretation, with the Holy Spirit as the guide and the community as the
sounding board. It is not a denial of
Biblical authority as some of our critics would trumpet. Instead, it holds a high standard of Biblical
authority. We will not conform to
another’s doctrine without our say. We
will only adopt a doctrine or a belief after faithful study and faithful witness
to the Gospel’s presence in our lives.
That’s good, healthy, Baptist theology.
You can’t get much more narrow than that.
This begs
the question: Whose narrow gate do we
seek to enter?
Hear this: we can’t simply talk about taking the narrow path without also paying attention to the gate-keepers.
The
gate-keepers in ancient
The
gate-keepers in the ancient world were religious and secular authorities who
kept the rich rich and the poor poor. The
gate-keepers in Matthew’s context were the Pharisees who kept to a narrow
belief in the Torah and also a narrow belief in the oral torah, a set of
restrictions for piety that were supposed to make one closer to God. Jesus criticizes them for heaping up empty
phrases while ignoring the more important work of justice and mercy for all of
God’s people. These people had their own
view of what the narrow gate was all about.
And it almost always left out the poor, the marginalized, the women, the
lepers, the ones in debt, the ones with the wrong culture, the wrong clothing, the wrong skin color.
The gates were pretty darn narrow.
We have had
our share of narrow gates. It was
written into our Constitution that blacks were 2/5ths of a human being, that only white male land-owners could vote. It was written into the constitution of the
Third Reich that only people of Arian descent had the right to be part of the
new
Think of
the gate-keepers in our world. When the
gate keepers are also the ones with political, religious and social power, then
there is a severe temptation for abuse of that power. One of the worst things to happen t
Christianity was that it became a powerful religion. When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity
in the fourth Century, Christianity got into bed with empire and forsook its
outsider mantra. It lost its prophetic
witness. It defined the narrow gates as
identical to the great pillars and palaces of then kings. We know the results of this: the crusades,
the push for orthodoxy and creed taking precedence over compassion.
But let’s
look at Jesus’ narrow gate. Jesus said that our narrow gate is not about
righteousness of doctrine. It is not
about keeping others out. It is not
about being the best. The narrow gate is
the humble gate. It is the gate of
blessing that began the Sermon on the Mount.
The blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, the
meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the pure in heart, the peacemakers.
These are the keepers of the narrow gate. None of these are popular. Few of these win voted in denominational
meetings. Jesus knew that if the people
embraced these values, they would not be in the majority.
Maybe the
gate needs to be narrow because this is where we will go through it, with small
enclaves of believers, with people who are not deemed acceptable by the powers
and principalities, with people who are the outcasts, with people who dare to
buck the system and embrace a subversive spirituality that grants them
integrity.
Just before
the voting and discussion, Ellen Allen from
I’m
reminded of the poem by Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference..
Think about what the narrow gate might be for you. What is the hardest thing to do that is the most challenging, the most unpopular and the most redemptive? That might be your narrow gate.
And though it seems at times that we are destined to go through that gate alone, the truth is that we are not alone. We are never alone. Look at the people around you. We are each other’s companions seeking the narrow gate together. We challenge each other to be better than we are. We remind each other that we are already good, no matter what others might say. We remember that Jesus is on the other side of the narrow gate, beckoning, encouraging us on, and smiling as he sees us recognize our own calling, our own voices, the fire in our bones, the dormant ember of hope being fanned into a flame by the wind of our gentle companions on the journey.
Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”—the subversive gate; the often unpopular gate; the ultimately redemptive gate. For in that gate are our companions. In that gate is the power of God to change ourselves and restore hope for us and for our world. God is the gate-keeper of this narrow gate. May we always, Always, always choose God’s gate of mercy, justice, compassion, welcome, and hope. It will make all the difference.