Discussion on Strait and Narrow

Yes, it is understood that the narrow path is considered to be a metaphor for the entrance into the kingdom of heaven, which only occurs to those who are born again. Many are called, but few are chosen.  Once Jesus has got you, you are in. But even so, consider Paul's admonition to Christians at Corinth whom he called babies. They were still on spiritual baby food, and not consuming adult spiritual fare. These Christians were not making much progress spiritually. Get a move on! Paul was saying.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

1. And I, brothers, was unable to speak to you as I would to spiritual people, but spoke to you as flesh-driven people – babies in Christ.
2. I have fed you baby food, not food for adults, because you couldn't handle it. And you still can't handle it,
3. because you are still flesh-driven. That is, doesn't the envying, strife and divisiveness among you show that you are flesh-driven, no different from non-spiritual people?

Here we should observe that Paul need not have worried overmuch, as Jesus himself said that persecution would afflict (and discipline) his real followers.

The "old man" (another Paulism) within the true Christian was hanging back, avoiding the narrow path.  It seems quite probable that some of the early congregants were not believers, but people who had joined for social reasons. Those congregants would have had a tendency to hold back the others, cajoling them to just hang about and "play church."

Recall the married couple Ananias and Sapphira who had the misfortune of lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-10). No doubt they knew no better because they did not know Jesus.

Surely an example of someone who took the narrow path was Paul.  Paul gave up all comforts and went all out to serve God and bring in an enormous harvest of souls for Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11:24-28

24 Under Jewish rulers, I have received the maximum of 39 stripes [more than that required Roman approval].
25 On three occasions I was beaten with rods, another time I was stoned and three times I was shipwrecked, spending a night and a day in the ocean.
26 In my many travels, I have been in peril of waters, in peril of robbers, in peril from my own countrymen, in peril by the pagans, in peril in the city, in peril in the wilderness, in peril at sea, in peril from false Christians.
27 Tired and hurting, often on the lookout, hungry and thirsty, often fasting, cold and badly clothed.
28 Aside from all those sort of things that befall me every day, I also have concern for all the church groups.

Yet, with all that, Paul is hardly the only fiercely determined Christian in the annals of faith. Many are the unsung heroes who have endured all manner of troubles as they labored in the fields of the Lord. They have forgone everything and have done and are doing amazing things under Jesus' authority – even though many such works are hidden for now.

You might think of such Christians as the elite special forces for the Lord. But they are people who in fact, not only in word, have surrendered all. Those Christians who have yet to find this very narrow path will, I suspect, still be walking a path off the big highway, where all the world walks. That is to say, even a reluctant Christian must show himself different from ordinary worldlings. The Spirit within him will at least nudge him "go this way, duck that." The Spirit within him will lead him, by degrees perhaps, to take a narrower way. The Christ within him will master the darkness of the old man, though the old man, abetted by Satan, puts up a ferocious struggle. If necessary, God can even drag the troubled believer into the wondrous New World.

Appendix J. From the days of John until now

For a bit more insight into the idea of the heavenly realm, consider

Matthew 11:11-15

11 I mean it when I tell you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John (the Baptist) [LP.1a]. Even so, he that is least in heaven's kingdom is greater than him.
12 From the days of John [the Baptist] until now, people have been beating on the gates of heaven's kingdom and storming in.
13 All the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
14 And if you can accept it, he is Elijah, who was to come.
15 He who has ears to hear, listen up!

John made the hearts of the common people ready to receive the message of salvation; they rushed eagerly to obtain that salvation, which could be fulfilled once Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Though Jesus had not yet sent them the Holy Spirit, many of these believers were as good as "in." They would, after the Resurrection, receive the Spirit in return for putting their trust, even before the Resurrection, in Jesus. Of course, we must assume that the belief of many who had stormed into the kingdom faltered when Jesus died, as did the belief of the inner circle of disciples. But just as the resurrected Jesus restored the belief of the inner circle, so he would have revived the hope of the many others – no doubt via the proclamation by the reinvigorated disciples.

Here we may speculate that perhaps the Sermon's main compiler did not yet have a full comprehension – though still very good – of what Jesus was driving at in his earthly ministry. I interpret 11:11-15 to mean that John was the greatest prophet born in a natural way. In fact, he was so great that he fulfilled the role of Elijah, [LP.3] who was thought by many to be someone who would return to pave the way for God's saving reign on earth. Yet, John was not born again. Those who have been born by the Spirit from above are much, much more fortunate than someone who remains in the natural state, born only in the natural way.

Verse 12, while praising John, also seems to imply a conflation of ideas. How could John's ministry set off a wild scramble to get into heaven's kingdom, and yet John himself be excluded?

Two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, possibilities come to mind:

i. At this stage Matthew's principal author was -- in some sense properly -- implying that the people who had rushed out to obtain John's baptism for repentance of sin had begun to enter God's kingdom, which Jesus would reign over. But this leaves a question about John's inferiority.
ii. John's role was to pave the way for the Messianic kingdom. It was necessary that his role as a natural man cease, to be replaced by the realm of supernatural men (the born again). We may also read into this the end and fulfillment of Israel's "natural man" path, now to be replaced by the New Israel.

By the words of Matthew 11:11-15, Jesus was indirectly announcing that he was the expected Messiah, as he did in previous verses in which he pointed out the works of wonder to the puzzled John.

The key to understanding the Sermon

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For a better perspective on what Jesus had to say in the Sermon, it is helpful to consider two stories found in John, chapters 3 and 4, along with an excerpt from John 6, which make plain the need to be forgiven one's sins and to be born again as a new creation now united to God the Father and Jesus the Son. As we read through the Sermon, these other words of Jesus may come to mind to aid our comprehension.

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One night after Jesus had been teaching during the day, an influential Pharisee named Nicodemus came to see him.

"Teacher, we know you are a teacher who has come from God," said Nicodemus. "No one could do the signs you do without God."

"Very seriously I tell you," said Jesus, "unless a person is born again [ff.1], he cannot see God's kingdom."

"What!? How can someone be born when he is older? Can he go back into his mother's womb for a second birth?"

Jesus replied, "Very seriously I tell you, unless a person is born of the Spirit [ff.2], he cannot enter God's kingdom. What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't wonder about me telling you, you must be born again. The wind [ff.3] blows wherever it leans. You hear its voice but you don't know where it came from or where it is going. That's how it is for everyone born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus was perplexed. "That's very hard to understand."

"You are a teacher of Jews and you don't know this?" said Jesus. "We speak what we know and report what we have witnessed. And yet, you do not receive our testimony." Jesus added, "If I tell you about simple things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about higher things?" [ff.4]

John continues with important insights into who Jesus is:

No one had ascended to heaven [ff.5] except he who descended out of heaven – but who is still human. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever trusts him may have eternal life. [ff.6]

God loved the world so much that he gave his precious firstborn son so that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world to judge it, but to save the world through his son. This is how that works: He who trusts in the son has eternal life, but he who does not is under the judgment caused by failure to accept the son.

That is, the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light. When you keep doing wrong, you are dodging the light. You know that if you let the light shine into your mind, you will feel guilty about what you've been doing. But, if your heart is now true, you like the light and don't mind God seeing what you do, since it comes from God. [ff.7]

He that is of the earth talks about earthly things. But he who comes from heaven is above everything. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, and no one believes him. But he who has believed his testimony affirms this: God is true. The one sent by God speaks God's words; God gives him unlimited Spirit. The Father loves the son, and has put everything under his control. He who trusts the son has eternal life. He who won't do so will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

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Once, when Jesus was traveling the Samaria [ww.1] road between Jerusalem and Galilee, he arrived at Sychar, not far from the parcel of land Jacob had given his son Joseph. That's where Jacob's well is.

Weary from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well while his disciples went into town to purchase some food. At about the sixth hour [probably noon], a Samaritan woman came up to draw water from the well.

"Give me something to drink," Jesus said.

The woman was surprised. "You're a Jew and you're asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?"

Jews and Samaritans did not get along well in those days [ww.2].

"If you knew the gift of God, and who asked you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water," [ww.3] Jesus replied.

"What? You don't even have a jug. What are you talking about? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and provided water for himself, his family and all his cattle?"

Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks that water will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again – this water will be like wellspring water, bubbling up forever."

"Sir," she said. "Give me that water so that I won't have to come all this way to draw it up."

Jesus replied, "Go call your husband and bring him here."

"I don't have a husband," she said.

"You said that right: I have no husband. You have actually had five husbands, and your current man is not your husband. So, you spoke the truth."

Startled, she said, "I can see that you are a prophet!" Immediately, she wondered about different religious practices. "Our fathers have always worshiped on this mountain [ww.4] but you Jews say Jerusalem is the right place."

Jesus said, "Woman, believe me, the time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know – for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time is coming, and now is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. These are the kind of worshipers the Father wants. God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

The woman replied, "I know that when Messiah comes, he will reveal everything to us."

"I am speaking with you," said Jesus [ww.5]. (This was a way of quietly saying, "The I Am speaks.)

At this point, his disciples returned and were amazed to find him speaking with a woman. Yet not one of them asked, "What are you doing? Why are you talking to her?"

The woman left her jug and hurried back to town, where she told everyone, "Come see a man who told me everything about my past! Is this the Messiah?"

The townspeople decided to have a look and came out to the well.

But in the meantime, his disciples urged him to have some food.

"I have food that you don't know about," Jesus answered.

The disciples were puzzled. Has anyone brought him something to eat? they wondered.

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work," said Jesus. "Don't you say, 'In four months it will be harvest time?' But I say, look around. The fields are right now ready for the harvest."

He added, "He who reaps is paid for the crop of eternal-life fruit. But the sower also enjoys this harvest. So here the saying applies, 'One reaps where another sows.' I send you to reap where you have done no work. But now you join in the labor of others."

When the Samaritans of Sychar came out to him, they urged him to spend some time with them. This he did, staying two days.

Many of the townspeople put their trust in him after hearing him teach. Some told the woman words to the effect: "At first, we believed this man is someone special because of what you told us. But now we believe he is the Messiah because we have heard him ourselves." [ww.6]

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At another point, Jesus surprised people with these words:

"I am that bread of life.

"Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and they are dead.

"But this bread comes down from heaven so that a person may eat it – and not die.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."