Meditation for 30 September 2009

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Matthew 7:13-21

13 ‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. ¹⁴For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

15 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus you will know them by their fruits.

21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

The Hard Road

I climbed another 14,000-foot peak a couple of weeks ago, Mt. Sneffels in southwestern Colorado, near Ouray.  (Some folks have asked me if there is really a Mt. Sneffels – the answer is yes.)  There comes a point on just about every 14er when you have to tell yourself to keep going.  (Okay, the truth is this happens for me a lot more now that I am 52 than it did when I was 22.)  On Mt. Sneffels, it happened at around 12,600 feet or so, when I looked up and saw that we had to go up this incredibly steep scree slope for at least 1000 feet.  This is what I call “grunt work”.  It’s not the fun scrambling over boulders and ridges.  It’s just grunt work – tough going, hard breathing, where your mind is saying “do I really want to do this?” and “this isn’t much fun.” At these times, you have to remind yourself that there is going to be one of those amazing Colorado views when you get above that 1000 feet of scree, and finally gain the ridge - the ridge that will lead you right to the summit.  Okay, it also helped that about ¼ of the way up this section, we caught up with four friendly guys from Tennessee, who were in Colorado for the first time, had climbed their first 14er the day before, and were steadily making their way up the slope.  And that not-so-little competitive place inside of me said, “I have been climbing 14ers since 1974.  If these guys can make it up this slope, so can I!”

Perhaps one of the reasons that I like climbing 14ers so much is that these treks that we go on seem a lot like life.  There are certain things that happen to us in life – health challenges, relationship challenges, job challenges, facing the loss of a loved one, financial struggles – where we think to ourselves, “This is the grunt work right now.  This isn’t exactly fun.  Do I really want to keep going?”  And yet it is in those moments, to use an old cliché, when we really discover what we’re made of.  Will we recommit to the friendship or the marriage and see it through?  Will we be honest about what we are feeling, with ourselves and with others?  Will we tell the truth, even if it feels there might be a substantial cost associated with doing that?  Will we enter into the pain, and trust that we won’t stay there, and that God will bring us through to the other side – to the summit with the amazing views and the burst of aliveness and new energy?

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.  For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7:13-14) (The word “road” can also be translated “path” or “way”.)

“… the road is hard that leads to life.”  I don’t think that everything in life is supposed to be hard.  Sometimes things flow.  Think of the tortoises in the Australian Current in “Finding Nemo”!  When that happens, and we feel carried along, without a care in the world – well, that’s something to be celebrated now, isn’t it?

But I think what Jesus is saying is that sometimes we want to arrive… to prosper… to receive all that is best in life, without going through any struggle, without making any tough choices, without having to persevere.  Meanwhile, the majority of people around us are thinking (and maybe even saying), “What are you doing that for?”  (Kind of like:  “Why would you take the trouble to climb a 14er?  That’s too much work!”)

At times, we just want things handed to us.  We want nice things without working for them and without entering into the long-term discipline of saving our money.  We want the church to “feed us”, but we don’t necessarily want to practice any kind of spiritual discipline.  We want to be in shape, but we don’t necessarily want to do the grunt work associated with running or going to the gym.  We want to be on top of a 14er, but why climb one when you can drive to the top of Mt. Evans or to the top of Pikes Peak?  Sometimes we are just lazy.  We want the easy way out or the easy way up.  And when we’re feeling this way, we don’t want to hear Jesus say, “For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life…”  We’d like the wide gate and the easy road, thank you very much.

The early Christians were often referred to as the people of “the way”.  It is not always an easy way, being a follower of Christ.  It is not always an easy road, striving to do the will of our Father in heaven (see verse 21).  Jesus, in fact, says quite plainly, toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, that the road is hard.

But here’s the key:  the hard road leads to life – that is, the kingdom of God.  If you want to enter into the kingdom, don’t be afraid to take the hard road.  Because that is the path that ultimately leads to joy, peace, love, life, and yes, the most amazing new perspectives.