25.06.2024 – St. Patrick Catholic Church, Largo, FL

Which road to take – The narrow gate and way of life

2Kings 19:9-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36, Psalm 48, Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Life is full of choices and we are confronted with making choices almost every day. Even to wake up this morning and come for this Mass is a choice you had to make. We all know that when a path diverges, such as a fork in the road, each way leads to a different destination. At a point in life a man encounters life’s crossroads where he must make a choice that will affect how he will live the larger part of his life. Today Jesus speaks about the two ways between which each person must choose, the narrow way that leads to life (peace, security, happiness with God) and the wide-open way that leads to destruction.

This imagery of the two ways was already being widely used in the Old Testament. For instance the Book of Psalms opens with an image of a person who has chosen to follow the way of those who are wise and obedient to God’s word and who refuse to follow the way of those who think and act contrary to God’s law: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:1-2). God speaking through Moses “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil… Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live” (Deut. 3:15-20). Joshua also admonished the people “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Jos 24:15). The Prophet Jeremiah also challenged the Israelites “Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death” (Jer. 21:8).

Jesus compares the narrow gate and the hard road which the few take with the wide and spacious road which the many take. He himself is the narrow gate and the hard road. To take the narrow gate and the hard road is to follow him, to live by his teaching, especially as that teaching is expressed in the Sermon on the Mount from which we have been reading in recent days. Jesus implies that many people will turn away from his teaching, will take other, easier, paths. The Sermon on the Mount puts before us a very high ideal and the temptation is to keep it at arm’s length on the basis that it is not really for the average Christian. Yet, Jesus addresses his teaching to everyone; as Christians we have the same calling which we try to live out in the circumstances of our own lives. The narrow gate -the hard road is the one we are all asked to take. In taking it Jesus assures us that we will find life, both now and beyond death.

Today’s gospel makes a very shocking revelation. Jesus says “For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Only a few find it. How many follow it then? Finding the road and following it are two different things. Maybe you and I are among the few who have found it. Are we among the fewest of the few who follow it? What choices are you making every day? Do the choices you make help you move towards the goal of loving God and obeying his will?

Let us pray God to help us to freely choose the way that leads to Him. May we always follow the path that leads to love, truth, and holiness. Amen.