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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘And He said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate.’
Luk_13:23-24
I. Our Lord says, ‘Strive’; and He vouchsafes to add one reason why we should strive. A gate is appointed for us to enter into—the gate which leads to our true home, the only place where we can be happy, and this gate is strait, i.e. very narrow. So strait, so narrow, is this gate and way, that it cannot be found for mere seeking. Many, many there are who know more or less of it, have a true notion where it is to be found, and really wish they had entered in and were moving along that way; but they have not the courage to take the true and only method of entering; they will not make themselves low, little, and humble; they will not stoop, so the lowly door keeps them out; they load themselves with earthly riches, cares, and pleasures, so that they and their burdens take up too much room to crowd in through the narrow gate; they will not be converted and become as little children, so they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
II. Men hold easily on, hardly seeking, not at all striving, until their path in life is run out, and they find themselves all on a sudden close to the other narrow gate, the very doorway of heaven itself, which is also called strait and narrow, because none may go through it who has not the mind of Christ, the lowly, meek, humble, self-denying mind, which He so earnestly invited, and charged all who would come to Him to learn of Him. But these have not learned it; and what is the consequence? When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, i.e. when the day of trial is over, and the night of judgment is come, and when the work of this world, according to the counsel of God, is ended, it will be as in orderly and strict households, when darkness and the hour of rest is come, and the family has retired, and the doors are made fast for the night; at such a time, if strangers, who have no claim to such a favour, much more of incorrigible servants who have forfeited their claim, come knocking and demanding admittance, the Master will say, ‘I know you not whence ye are.’ Who can describe the horror and despair which will come upon them in that moment, when they shall hear Him Who is love saying to them, ‘Depart from Me’?
Rev. J. Keble.
THE ANSWER OF THE LIFE
I. The answer could not be expressed in words, but it might be learned by a life.—The question could not become clear by an explanation, but it might by the strife with sin. The words of Jesus lift the whole matter out of the clouds and mists which were surrounding it into the region where alone it could be clearly seen. He speaks not to the understanding, but to the heart; not to the intellect, but to the will. He bids that arise from its slumber, and brace itself for the struggle to win eternal life. ‘Strive to enter in.’ The task will not be an easy one. There is a strait gate. There is a narrow way; and there are hindrances many and great. Pride will hinder you; self-will will hinder you; sloth and love of ease will hinder you. The example of others will often keep you back. It will be a hard battle; but strive. ‘Look unto Me, and be ye saved.’ Fight your way through all, and enter in. Bow down and pass through the little gate of perfect sincerity, of hearty trust, of earnest purpose. And when you have entered you will find that you see all things in a way in which you never saw them before, in a way in which you cannot see them now. You will have drawn nearer to Him Who sits upon the Throne; you will see things as He sees them; your will will have become like the Will of Him Who rules the world. The more heartily you enter into battle with the evil that is in you, the more earnestly you labour to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, so much the more you will enter into the mind and will of Him Who is glorious in holiness. And so you will come at last to possess a faith which is something better than a true creed, a living trust which is far above a mere orthodox belief, an anchor of the soul which will keep you firm and unmoved in any storm and in any tempest.
II. The Lord has left us a rule which is needed in these days certainly not less than in the days that are passed. In books, in newspapers, in conversation, men are every day disputing loudly upon some separate question connected with religion. They are arguing for or against some theory of inspiration, some doctrine of the Atonement, some attempt to number the years of eternity. And though these things are often discussed in a tone of thoughtless trifling which makes one shudder, yet there are thousands whose voices are never heard in all this strife of tongues, but for whom such questions have a deep, a terrible reality. We may learn, then, from the answer of Jesus that there are some things which are better learned by patient waiting than by anxious thought. We can live them out better than we can think them out. If we were in less haste to form opinions and theories of our own upon spiritual things, we might have less material to feed our pride, but we should far more certainly and safely attain to the knowledge of the truth. Let us then be content that there should be some things which we are not certain about, upon which we cannot pronounce judgment, which we must take on trust a little while longer.
III. While others are disputing, let us be living.—For religious argument is most dangerous to religious life. Very few can breathe its atmosphere long without feeling its poisonous power. We become so busy with the letter that we forget the Spirit, so anxious to prove our opinion correct that we forget to gaze upon Him of Whose glory our loftiest and brightest view is after all but a dim reflection. We may make ourselves very skilful in quoting the separate words of Scripture, or in observing the facts of experience, but we are in danger of knowing less and less every day of that one word of which the whole of Scripture is speaking, and which is in itself the sum and substance of the revelation of the Most High; the word which the Lord has been pronouncing in the ears of men ever since the Creation morning, the word which is the everlasting name of God, for ‘God is Love.’