The Narrow Gate is also Small
We are all pretty familiar with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:13-14 in which He says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Most of the time when I’ve heard or studied this passage, I tend to remember only the narrow vs. wide part. It’s a clear concept and it sticks in the brain well. Basically it is saying, the crowd will tell you to do one thing, but you shouldn’t just follow the crowd (on the wide road). Instead, choose what only some people are doing and go the narrow way, or God’s way instead of the world’s.
But something C.S. Lewis wrote stood out to me this morning and brought this passage back to mind. In his “Reflections on the Psalms,” he is discussing man’s writings on Nature. Towards the end, there’s this quote, “For the entrance is low: we must stoop till we are no taller than children in order to get in.” Now, this might not make much sense out of context, but this phrase got my mind going on another saying of Jesus in addition to the one in Matthew 7 above. It’s Matthew 18:3, “And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Lewis’ phrase kind of combined those two verses in my head this morning. The entrance (one could imagine an entrance being a gate) is low. Look back at Matthew 7 - Jesus says “small is the gate.” Now, I’ve always thought of the gate in that passage only as narrow - never small. Until today. Lewis says, we must stoop till we are no taller than children in order to get in. Jesus says, unless you become like little children, you won’t enter the kingdom of heaven.
And a verse I also read this morning was Romans 12:16 “Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not think you are superior.” For whatever reason, I was struck by that verse this morning, feeling I needed to personally apply it to myself. I often am proud, and do not associate with certain people. It is one of my faults which I simultaneously regret the most, yet find hardest to change in myself. But the “do not think you are superior” part tied in for me with Lewis’ phrase “no taller than children,” which reminded me of Jesus’ words on the small gate and entering like children.
Where is all this leading? I think all helps provide a fuller understanding of the verse in Matthew 7, that not only is the gate narrow, but it’s a reminder that it is also small. We do not boldly stride through the gate, but instead humble ourselves like children, not thinking ourselves too superior to stoop low. It is a reminder that no matter what walk of life or social class you come from, everyone stoops the same way to enter that gate. And that brings us all together in commonality.
One of my influences, Len Sweet, often comes to mind when I think of Matthew 18:3. In his house, he has an incredible study - full of things from all over the world (or so I hear), but each thing must meet a specific requirement to be in there. Each item must have a story to go along with it, in order to be kept and collected in the study. But the things most remarkable to people who visit him there is the entrance to that study. It is an archway with a door in it, and the height is something like five feet tall. Therefore, everyone who enters his study must stoop low before going in. He says of it that he had it designed that way so that whenever he prepared to enter the study and begin exploring God’s word, he himself was reminded to enter as a child just like Jesus said.
How humble are we really most of the time? How openly trusting are we really with God? Like a child is with a parent? We certainly have other similar traits to children in some of our tantrums and selfish desires. When you read of or remember the narrow gate, remember also that the gate is small, and if we want to enter into God’s realm, we must humble ourselves as His children. Standing tall in our own pride will make us bump our heads every time we try to go in.
