Justin Appel

Enter by the narrow gate. —Matthew 7:13

Dear Friends in Christ,

Quite admittedly, this passage from Matthew’s Gospel qualifies as a hard saying, for it seems to admit to some essential limitation in the access to the Kingdom of God. There is an interpretation of this idea, however, that suggests that the narrow gate and the hard path is nothing less than transformation and healing in one’s soul. I must confess that this particular reading makes sense—not because I can claim to be fully “transformed,” but because it describes the path of faith as a serious and difficult trek. G. K. Chesterton summarized this dynamic in his pithy way:

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” (What’s Wrong with the World)

Why should the way to the Kingdom be difficult? The reasons seem to be manifold. Because any progress on that way requires honesty, to others and to myself about who I am and what I need—and that requires humility. Because it involves relinquishing my autonomy. It requires silence, an awareness of God, “everywhere present” and “filling all things.” It means seeing people as creatures made in God’s image, not as objects. It means allowing God’s grace to heal the ruined, broken contours of my soul, bringing wholeness and integration to my interior life.

Perhaps a good way to summarize the difficulty of the narrow gate is that entering it requires my repentance. I have increasingly come to understand this word as an ongoing action, a repeated and continual re-orientation to Christ, and a turning away from any alternative.

Christ’s words, richly symbolic in this saying, describe the demanding path towards God’s Kingdom, rather than the easy, wide way to destruction.

May God bless us all.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin