On the Road to Jerusalem: The Narrow Door

“And He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.’”—Luke 13:23-24

The way to Jerusalem is hard and the way of salvation is narrow. It is hard precisely because it is narrow. Jesus new what awaited Him—He knew that He would suffer and die. In Matthew 16, after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ (or “anointed” of God—the Greek word for the Hebrew term “Messiah”), Matthew tells us that He,

“…began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised”—Matthew 16:21.

Such a statement struck terror into the hearts of the disciples. They didn’t understand everything surrounding His coming, much less the necessity of Him dying and then being raised to life. Such a statement had to have seemed ludicrous to them—which is why Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. He said, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You”—Matthew 16:22. But Peter didn’t fully understand what Christ came to do. This is why Jesus responded,  

“Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man”—Matthew 16:23. 

 Peter didn’t want Jesus to suffer and die, but that was the exact reason why He came—to suffer and die for us. He had to suffer, as the prophet Isaiah said: “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him”—Isaiah 53:10a. Jesus had to suffer for us; it was ordained of God and there was no other way.

As Jesus suffered, so too, shall we, although our suffering is far different, as Peter wrote:  

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps”—1 Peter 2:21.

 Jesus suffered to provide us with salvation. We suffer to have Christ magnified within us—to show by our suffering what He means to us. Whenever we suffer, people take notice and desire to know why. When we say it’s because of Christ, we are showing that our bodily comfort is of secondary importance to knowing Jesus Christ our Lord.

When Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow door,” He was teaching about how hard salvation is. Not that we have to do anything in order to procure our salvation; Jesus already accomplished that. But salvation, while instantaneous, is also a process, consisting of three events: justification (declared legally righteous in the sight of God), sanctification (where we become more like Christ), and glorification (when we get to heaven). It’s a bit like running a marathon. You begin the race at the starting line (justification), you run the race (sanctification), but you need to cross the finish line (glorification). All three are essential. The same is true with salvation. God places us in the race, we run the race with His help, but must cross the finish line to show the reality of our salvation.

After teaching about the narrow door, Jesus said, “For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Why will many seek to enter but not be able? Because they were unwilling to accept the costs of discipleship—suffering, tribulation, self-discipline, and death to self. These are men and women who want salvation without suffering, Christ without conviction, blessing without burdens, and heaven without holiness. We all must strive to enter the narrow door; anything else is unacceptable. Amen.