“How Few There Are” ( Matthew 7:13-14 KNOX ) by Carley Evans

(Photo credit: Bradley.Johnson.)

Jesus warns “few there are that find it.” The ‘it’ He mentions is “life.” Apparently, according to Jesus, the many find death easily; without trying. Why is that? Perhaps because death is our natural state; we are, indeed, in a state of perpetual dying. Jesus says,

Make your way in by the narrow gate. It is a broad gate and a wide road that leads on to perdition, and those who go in that way are many indeed; but how small is the gate, how narrow the road that leads on to life, and how few there are that find it!

Jesus says the way “that leads on to life” is difficult to find. The gate is small; the road is narrow. He implies this way is hidden. What makes the way to life so hard to locate? What makes the gate small? Why is the road narrow?

Perdition – hell, the underworld, death, punishment – is a broad and straight path. “And those who go in that way are many indeed,” says Jesus. The way to hell is an easy road to find because we start out on it, right from birth. We walk along with others, vaguely or painfully aware of its ultimate destination – our deaths. Some of us know that death is eternal; others do not. The gate to the other path is not obvious, according to Jesus. Rather, that path is small, narrow, hidden.

Who opens the eyes?

I think Paul tells us quite clearly that God the Holy Spirit enables the few to find the way to life. Why those few? An impossible question with an improbable answer – God selects. He is under no obligation to show mercy, but He does.

Such a hard Word. Paul responds with:

¹⁴ What does this mean? That God acts unjustly? That is not to be thought of.¹⁵ I will shew pity, he tells Moses, on those whom I pity; I will shew mercy where I am merciful;¹⁶ the effect comes, then, from God’s mercy, not from man’s will, or man’s alacrity. ¹⁷ Pharao, too, is told in scripture, This is the very reason why I have made thee what thou art, so as to give proof, in thee, of my power, and to let my name be known all over the earth.¹⁸ Thus he shews mercy where it is his will, and where it is his will he hardens men’s hearts.¹⁹ Hereupon thou wilt ask, If that is so, how can he find fault with us, since there is no resisting his will? ²⁰ Nay, but who art thou, friend, to bandy words with God? Is the pot to ask the potter, Why hast thou fashioned me thus? ²¹ Is not the potter free to do what he will with the clay, using the same lump to make two objects, one for noble and one for ignoble use? ²² It may be that God has borne, long and patiently, with those who are the objects of his vengeance, fit only for destruction, meaning to give proof of that vengeance, and display his power at last;²³ meaning also to display, in those who are the objects of his mercy, how rich is the glory he bestows, that glory for which he has destined them.

²⁴ We are the objects of his mercy; we, whom he has called, Jews and Gentiles alike. [Romans 9: 14-24, KNOX]