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. (Matthew 7:13-14)
My experience hearing this scripture interpreted has been through the lens of Salvation. Or at least Salvation the Evangelical way. What Jesus means here, we were told, is that very few will get to heaven and many will go to hell. That's because it's hard to follow Jesus, I guess. Or maybe it's hard to hear the good news of a narrow path to salvation in order to avoid eternal conscious torment. Hard to be certain even with utmost certainty. That was the Baptist way, anyway.
Matthew 7 is pretty beautiful in terms of teachings, and to me summarizes Jesus wonderfully. Even Jesus thinks so, inasmuch as he says, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (verse 12)." For the first third of this chapter he talks in terms that have fairly baffled readers, offering opportunities for pretty wide-ranging interpretations. When Jesus says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you," what does he mean? And the injunctions not to "give to dogs what is sacred" or "give pearls to pigs" are downright bizarre on their face.
The Narrowing Class - those Christians convinced of their narrow view of salvation - will have answers. They will have received answers over years of Bible Study and Sunday sermons. The interpretations they've accepted invariably support the Narrowing view, the sense that most people won't get it, most people won't accept the hard truths Jesus prefers. I suppose they will believe that they have removed the planks from their eyes and have a clear view of the specks obscuring everyone else's vision.
I personally believe that Jesus is right when he says that the road to destruction is wide. Being human is difficult. Part animal, we're always looking for the easiest way to survive and thrive. Part god, we feel the tug of compassion and empathy for other humans in our path. For most of us most of the time, meandering down the wide path is our default behavior. Being selfish comes easy; avoiding the difficulties of thinking of others is perpetually tempting; focusing on our own success is usually our only priority. If most of us are doing it, we must be on a pretty wide path or else we wouldn't all fit.
If that wide road leads to destruction, then what does destruction look like? The Narrowing Christians would say Hell, but that's too easy. I think destruction looks like narcissism. It looks like prioritizing your own success. It looks like doing to others what you don't want done to you, and doing it to them because it's convenient or easy. Ultimate destruction is the evil of treating everyone else like shit and in the process thoroughly corroding your soul.
I think that most Christians have an inkling of what the narrow path means because I believe that all people do. If God is written into our living fabric, if the divinity within each of us is the God of the universe, than we're all tuned in to a common understanding. The narrow road is generosity. It's magnanimity. It's kindness, selflessness, and grace. The narrow road is empathy and mercy. It's all of the things that are hard for animals who are focused only on surviving, but easy for a God who never dies and is made entirely of love.
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