The idea of a choice is very evident in the comparison of a wide and a narrow gate. The wide gate would represent the easy road—the way of the world where we go along with the accepted norms of society and the teachings of contemporary religious leaders. For the people hearing Jesus’ sermon, this would refer specifically to the Pharisees and the scribes, those who pretend as if we can earn God’s favour through our own works of obedience. And we have seen that Jesus refers to them as hypocrites (Matthew 6:2, Matthew 6:5, Matthew 6:16). They are hypocrites because they reduce the requirements of the law so that they can feign obedience, hypocrites because they aim to win the approval of men with their public prayers and exercises. They are all for show and the message they share is simple and widely accepted: Life is about making sure you end up in the top half. There is no need to be perfect, just make sure you are better than others and you will be okay.
Be a good person, so to speak, and you will be fine.
In contrast, the narrow gate represents the road of submission to Christ. It is a hard road not because Christ is a harsh taskmaster or a bad King—he is wonderfully glorious and his ways are good and perfect. No, this road is not difficult because of any imperfections in Christ, but because it is a road in which we are not King. It is a road in which we will often have to go against the traditions and norms of men, a road of self-denial and sacrifice, a road of faith.
Instead of pursuing possessions and looking to earthly goods for comfort, we are to give ourselves in pursuing the Father’s will (Matthew 6:25–34). Instead of chasing people out of the church who make our life difficult, we must bear with them—forgiving, correcting in gentleness (Matthew 7:1–12). This is a road where we are to keep our oaths even when they hurt (Matthew 5:33–37), a road where we cannot exchange one spouse for another when things get difficult (Matthew 5:31–32), or pursue vengeance when we are wronged (Matthew 5:43–48). The hardness is not because of Christ, but because of our sinful desires, because of the pressures of the world, because of the schemes of the devil.
And that means that it is not a road or a choice to which any one of us will naturally drift. Waking up in the morning, it is not in our nature to submit to Christ as King. It is not in our nature to want to follow his commandments. It is not in our nature to go against the spirit of our age and the sinful desires of our heart. As descendants of Adam, we naturally long for the easy road. We drift towards the consensus of those around us. On matters like abortion and euthanasia, homosexuality, ancestor worship, and divorce, our culture typically wants us to think that these things are fine and acceptable, so there is a lot of pressure on the church to get with the times and let go of so-called Victorian persuasions. And there is a big temptation to do so, a big temptation to win the praise of men, to reduce the cost that comes with following Christ.
At a personal level, when it comes to our daily decisions, it is also very easy to drift from Christ—to spend more and more Sundays absent from our meeting with God so that it is our habit to be away rather than present, to cut down on our giving so we can upgrade our lifestyle and procure more possessions, to forsake Bible reading and prayer as a family because life is just too busy. Instead of reshaping our daily habits and disciplines in a way that accords with God’s commands, we drift to a place where we justify more and more exceptions.
Submitting to Christ as King and walking on the way that is hard is a choice that must be made— a daily choice, a conscious choice to turn our backs on the world and let Christ set the agenda for our lives. We do not drift into godliness. We do not drift into Christian maturity and obedience. There is a choice that must be made.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.