Broadway or Pathway

It's a familiar passage.  Jesus included it in his Sermon on the Mount, so it must have remarkable importance in the eternal scheme.  Those who are followers of Jesus know his sermon that day began with the passages we know as the beatitudes.  This main address in the beginning of Jesus' public ministry included blessings to those who were poor in spirit, meek, peacemakers, and the list goes on.

Now, toward the end of that sermon, the tone has shifted to one of warnings.  Illustrations are used by our Lord here, to add a visibility  to the words he spoke.  Any who heard Jesus' sermon that day could relate to wide gates on broad roads, and the entrance of many because of its broad nature.  It is comparably easy to understand the straight way and narrow gate being entered by so very few. 

I remember as a child hearing these verses from the pulpit on regular occasions.  The emphasis which the preacher placed on phrases about "leading to destruction" when speaking of the wide gate, and another phrase about "leading to life" when talking about the narrow way, was actually a sermon in itself.  Warnings like these could be scary, if our life-choice was to find ease in the majority.  

Likewise, even a young boy could understand the hard way, the straight and narrow, as tough as it may be, is the goal everyone must achieve.  More emphasis was given to the words "few there be that find it," and that's when I started peeking around the little church where about 20 people met, and figured since we were probably the smallest church in town, we must be the only right church in town. 

We are searching for deeper meanings here.  I think it only right to mention Jesus is speaking here not just of gates and the width of roads, but of personal choices we all must make.  We can join the majority and follow their lead in matters of moral character and actions.  Jesus wants us to know that is a road which leads to destruction.  We can also choose to take the narrow path, a road which is more difficult, and pattern our lifestyle after the very principles  and life of Jesus, whose name we wear. 

The meat of the message can further be seen in a poster I saw recently in a teen Bible study room. The quote goes like this, "Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it.  Right is right, even if no one is doing it. "   The choice is yours. 

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