THE NARROW GATE
Many people are familiar with this passage in Scripture, “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).
The narrow gate was not a figure of speech but was real. Jesus said the wide gate leads to destruction and the narrow gate to life. Though Jesus’ statement was and is a salvation call, it also has a deeper meaning that is missed by twenty-first century thinking. However, Jesus was explaining a very powerful truth that fit Jewish Hebrew thinking, their customs, and their way of life.
Jerusalem had many gates. Big wide gates that caravans and armies marched through. But there was one gate that travelers and merchants knew well, and it was the narrow gate called the needle’s eye. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew19:24). So, what was Jesus saying?
The narrow gate made it difficult for a camel to pass through. The walls would press tightly against the camel, and it would need its master’s help to pass through. But first, all baggage and supplies had to be removed from the camel. Then its handler would require the camel to submit and lower itself so it could carefully be guided through.
The people heard and understood the difficulty involved in passing through a narrow gate. They would experience discomfort, and pressure while submitting to authority. It would require removing personal baggage and worldly pursuits that negatively impacted their lives.
The Hebrew word for narrow is TZAR meaning narrow, tight, restricted. It comes from the root word TZARH which means trouble, pressure, or a place of distress. In other words, the narrow gate was not meant to be easy or convenient for the camel. Similarily, it is not easy for us because it requires stripping away cumbersome things we carry and submitting to God so we can move forward. And that was the point Jesus was making.
Jesus also said there is a wide, broad road that is easy to traverse because there is no pressure, resistance, and no demand on that person. Much of today’s faith is based on what is comfortable, feels good, fits easily into one’s life, and doesn’t challenge or ask for a change in people. It allows a person to carry everything with them—pride, bad habits, compromise, and distorted false beliefs.
Jesus contrasts the broad road with the narrow road. Narrow represents pressure, squeezing, confining and troubling—all for the purpose of shaping a person into a vessel of honor. That road presses, refines, changes and purifies the person. It is not a path of comfort, but a path designed for transformation and deeper understanding of oneself and God. The wide road encourages a person to remain the same.
The rabbinic teaching taught two paths— the way of life and the way of death. God’s message through Moses to the people was “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live “(Deuteronomy 30:19).
There are two paths with two different outcomes, “One person follows the way of the righteous. Another follows the way of the wicked (Psalm 1). So, Jesus was referring to Matthew 7 and speaking what was familiar to the Jewish people by repeating a pattern that had always been there. He was carrying the same message that Moses, the prophets, and the wisdom writings spoke of.
Jesus made it clear that the choice was theirs and that same choice is always before all people. Two roads, two gates, two destinations. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way.” In John 10:9 He said, “I am the gate. Whoever enters through Me will be saved.” Therefore, Jesus is the narrow gate.
Then Jesus made the alarming statement that only a few find the narrow gate. The word “find” in Greek means to search, to seek, and discover with effort. It is an intentional pursuit of truth. In rabbinic culture, learning was not casual. It took great effort and study. You attached yourself to a teacher. In today’s world, the teacher is Jesus and His Word. But discipline, time and surrender are required.
When Jesus called people to follow Him, He was not offering a casual relationship. He was inviting them and all humanity to a way of life with Him. That requires leaving what separates us from Him and follow Him just as Simon Peter and his brother Andrew did when they were casting their nets into the sea. Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately (no questions asked) they left their nets and followed him.” And James and John immediately left their boat and their father, Zebedee to follow Jesus.
The narrow road demands commitment to Christ, which often requires leaving behind sinful attitudes, emotional burdens, worldly dependencies, bitterness, unforgiveness, anxiety, and the need to control one’s life. And most people do not make that choice, because it is not an easy path. The wide road doesn’t require surrender and letting go. It doesn’t require being reshaped. When Jesus spoke to a large crowd and to the disciples on the Mount of Beatitudes, He told them they were walking on the wrong road...the wide road (Matthew 5:1-2).
False prophets are gate keepers of the wide road. They draw people in with their encouraging words, false beliefs, and false doctrine. Accountability is not preached, nor do they prioritize personal holiness or repentance. They preach only positive, "feel-good" messages that avoid biblical topics such as sin, repentance, judgment, and hell. Value is placed on signs, wonders, and prosperity. They make the narrow road look unattractive and lead people on the wider path. Jesus warned that these false teachers will be known by their fruit. But how can you know if their fruit is bad without knowing truth through God’s Word?
The narrow gate is not punishment nor is God being harsh. The narrow gate is the only gate that leads to eternal life, salvation, and the Kingdom of God where there is eternal peace and joy. God is the narrow gate ready to receive those who come to Him and do not look back.
PRAYER: FATHER, the enemy of my soul makes it so easy and preferable to take the wider path because it is more comfortable and I don’t have to face what holds me back from a true and fulfilling relationship with You. Give me courage and determination to take the path less traveled—the more difficult path that produces blessings and freedom from those things that hinder and fail me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.