The Narrow Way

Author: Mark Fenstermacher
November 11, 2020

One of my favorite verses in one of my favorite hymns says "There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea." The lyrics by Frederick William Faber are a comfort to me because I'm pretty sure that I am one of those EGR people (Extra Grace Required)–even in the eyes of God. The flaws and failures in my life surely test the mercy of God, but it is reassuring to see the mercy of God being as wide as the sea.

The love of God, Paul says in Ephesians 3:19, surpasses knowledge because it is so broad, so deep and so high.

So it has always bothered me when Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13-14), says, "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."

I'm left to wonder if the mercy and love of God are wide then how is it that the way to life is narrow?

Jesus, in the 7th chapter of Matthew, isn't being prescriptive so much as being descriptive: the way of love, the way of mercy, and the way of peacemaking is narrow. Many choose not to take it. Gather one hundred people together, describe the Jesus' way of loving, and a majority of folks will vote for "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth." Many will tell you the Jesus' way of loving, the Jesus' way of giving, isn't realistic or workable. The way to life is narrow "and there are few who find it." Getting even, plotting payback, settling the score, is so much more obvious than the way of grace.

Here is what I have concluded in life: the Jesus' way of loving is our only hope.  "An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind," Mahatma Gandhi said.

This is true in our personal lives. This is true in the church. This is true in our neighborhoods. This is true during this bitter political season in our country. This is true in the between nations. 

I've actually discovered the more intense the conflict between people, the more bitter the polarization in politics or within religious groups, that people are offended when I point them back to the Great Commandment Jesus gives us ("Love one another as I have loved you"). One person on the internet–not a good place to try and carry on a conversation–said that people like me who talk about that kind of love are the problem. What we have to say is offensive. 

It's a funny thing about grace: we often measure it out by the thimbleful for others but expect to receive it by the gallon. 

To love our enemy and pray for the person who persecutes us, to forgive seventy times seven, to give both our shirt and our coat when someone asks for our coat, to carry the neighbor's burden two miles when they asked us to carry it for one mile: this all shocks the world and so many turn away. Loving is the narrow way. Giving is the narrow way. 

The thing is, though, there is life down that narrow path.

The times when I have taken the less obvious road have almost always been great moments in my life. I remember, one afternoon, taking back roads in southern Indiana instead of the main highway. Every turn, every corner, stunned me with unexpected beauty.

Loving takes courage. Following the cross in this world is the narrow way, but this way leads to life.

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Join us this Sunday at 8:30 or whenever works for you (on-line only) for worship as we continue our "SHINING OUT!" sermon series. You are in my prayers as you consider how you will give to God in 2021. Won't you take the hard way (that leads to life)?

Note: please know that your church staff has been discussing online worship for the next several weeks. Please watch your emails each week and look at the web site for the latest information about our worship schedule.

Grace and peace in Christ,
Mark

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