Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
– Matthew 7:13-14
If you are in my age bracket, you probably remember gym classes in school that introduced you to a variety of physical activities. In my school, some of those activities were associated with what we would call gymnastics, one in particular being the balance beam. We didn’t use a balance beam that was several feet off the floor, like those who do competition. Ours was very close to the ground, providing a safer experience for people like me who don’t have the best balance in the world. The one thing I remember about trying to walk on the beam is the level of focus it required. Space for a misstep was practically non-existent. You can’t stroll down a balance beam in a casual manner like you would walk down a sidewalk talking to a friend. Every step required your complete attention. Otherwise you would find yourself quickly off the beam.
There is a quote by G.K. Chesterton that I have grown to appreciate. In his book What’s Wrong With the World, Chesterton says, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” When he speaks here of it being “tried,” he means tried to its fullest extent so as to see its complete result. The case being made by Chesterton is an interesting one. Speaking specifically regarding the Catholic Church of his day, he says, “the world did not tire of the church’s ideal, but of its reality.” He cites the reality of Christians who fall short of the standards of Christ and are thus deemed by the watching world as failures. Once the Christians are deemed failures, the pathway they are following toward the ideal is abandoned as invalid. In light of such examples, Chesterton offers as a general truth that “the great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived…but by not being lived enough.”
Let’s translate this into the balance beam analogy. Imagine a sect of people who announce that the greatest abundance of life is found in being a balance-beam walker. Some are willing to try, so they climb onto the beam with those already there. Others are skeptical and keep a judgmental watch. Over time it becomes evident that no one successfully walks the full length of the beam. Beam-walking, as it turns out, requires an extreme amount of discipline. Some give tremendous effort, but ultimately fall and have to remount. Others make a casual attempt, only to lose interest and, at the first misstep, walk away from the beam. Watching all this, the skeptics conclude that beam-walking is a farce, an ideal unworthy of consideration. This, however, is Chesterton’s point; the one thing that has not been disproven is the ideal proclaimed about beam-walking. The only thing demonstrated by their failures is the difficulty.
The balance beam is a great physical example of a narrow way. Staying on it is difficult. It is much easier to get off the beam and just wander everywhere else where there is plenty of easy footing. You might even choose to walk in close proximity to the beam, perhaps thinking that you can get partial credit as a beam-walker. But that’s just silly, isn’t it? Beam-walking is binary. You are either on it, or you are not. This may help us understand the point Jesus is making with his sobering message. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Why are there few who find it? Because it is difficult. Some will sign up as a follower of Jesus, only to lose interest and walk away. Many will be skeptics who prefer to scorn the Christian ideal on the basis of the sins of Christians. These will be among the many who will fall short of testing the Christian ideal to its end.
However, there will be those who test the Christian ideal to its end. They may fall off the beam, but when they do they will get back on. They will not become discouraged by the skeptics, because they take Jesus at his word when he says things like “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), or “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Of course, the ideal such people are testing is not whether or not they can learn to be great beam-walkers (i.e. disciples), but whether Jesus can be trusted over time to provide the full benefit of his grace to those who are willing to get on the beam and stay on it.
In a way, I find Jesus’ words here to be quite disheartening. It breaks my heart to think that many will not find the way to life, while only few will. I would much rather that many, if not all, would find the way to life. But this is not what Jesus indicates. We would do well to remember something else Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). Many are looking for their way into heaven (or their equivalent) by some other means. Many are also looking for a life here full of abundance, joy and peace by following various worldviews. While these all may seem right, their end is destruction (Proverbs 14:12).
Can I prove to you the truth of what Jesus said? No, not in the way the world defines proof. But that doesn’t matter to me. I am willing to walk the beam to the end and test the ideal. That’s how much I trust the man who said these things.
See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 