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| Paris Metro, Abbesses Station on Metro Line 12 |
And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Today's entry will be another one that uses two scriptures and two images. The images are of two different works f art by different creators. The scriptural selections are both by Jesus and though they are in two different Gospels and have different details, they essentially discuss the same thing and may be two versions of the same sermon. So to discuss these divine truths I feel it best to start off with a story of my fraternity days back in school.
In undergrad I pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (and yes, we always have to state the "Inc." at the end every time we say the name). If you don't know much about frats then imagine it as less of an "Animal House" type frat and more of a "Stomp The Yard" type frat. I was the awkward, uncoordinated brother who ruined every step show. So we focused on a lot of great stuff like service and producing a good image of what a fraternity man is on campus, but being a frat we also threw parties. Before you judge, please understand that there was no alcohol at our parties and they were our biggest form of fundraising for the service events. I also must engage in an obligatory name drop and mention that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a brother in my fraternity back in the olden days (yes, I know that didn't help me prove a point, but it made me feel important). Our chapter didn't own a frat house (neither did any of the other chapters in New Orleans) so we threw most of our parties in a really big room in the student center building. The parties were pretty successful. Since we didn't have alcohol, people came out for the music and the dancing... the likes of which Miley Cyrus should have studied more of before embarrassing anyone who learned to be a twerker in the late 90's-2000's New Orleans. So my job at these parties was usually to guard the back door... all 6 ft and 160 lbs of me (at the time). Even though I wasn't very intimidating (I'm more of a friendly, Wayne Brady-ish type of nice black guy with an overall De Barge Family aesthetic) my job was important... because they were probably afraid that I'd miscount the money (did I mention that I do accounting now?). So the lines to these parties got pretty long and the line in the front would snake around the back... hence the need for me to protect the rear access. Since we advertised the parties to other colleges, fraternities, sororities and even at certain clubs downtown, we would have a mixed crowd of attendees. While guarding the backdoor I would see them all as they waited for several minutes to get in throughout the night: freshman giddy for their first college parties, fellow Greeks that made the rounds to every party and step show, classmates from that particular semester, people that I hadn't seen since 6th grade, folks who stumbled in from the dorms in pajamas to see what all of the noise was about. church members that I would see again in about 8 hours at Sunday worship service, grad-chapter Greeks who wanted to party with some teenagers in spite of the fact that they were 30 something, people that I went to high school with who drove down from LSU. street hooligans who came to hit on college girls... I even saw Baby/Birdman once wearing a $10 Dickies/white tee shirt combo and about 1/2 a million worth of jewelry. With all of these groups I would get pleas from those who didn't want to deal with a several minutes long wait or pay the $5 entrance fee to let them sneak in the back door. Suddenly people that I didn't think that I knew very well (or at all) needed a favor. "Hey man remember me from elementary!" or " Bro I saw you at Xavier University passing out flyers!" or "We are Sociology and the Black Student Union together!": all of those greetings meant the same thing "I know you so let me in the back door!" The only thing separating these party goers from the excitement within the Alpha party was this door and my narrow worry frame. So today's verses are about something similar, in that Jesus guards the door of access to God. Who does Christ let enter and who is just a name dropper?
The entrances into Paris Metro (subway) are beautiful Art Nouveau structures. They playfully spell out "Metropolitan" in a whimsical script that matches the gilded iron structure and is reminiscent of Paris of yesteryear that lives in our collective mental imagery. Yet this tactical entrance, but rather an ornate sign, an announcement over the stairwell that leads to the entrance. Make no mistake about it: to ride on the actual Paris Metro you must pay admission and push your way through a turnstile. If you do not press through that narrow turnstile entrance then you can still watch others enter, but you cannot enter yourself. There are many who ride the Paris Metro daily, likewise, the entrance standards into our college parties weren't that restrictive (as long as you had $5, didn't have a weapon and seem too much like a thug) but Christ's standard of who would be saved seemed to be tough. So much so that someone asked if there would only be a few who would be saved. Jesus answers that the number of the saved is so few not due to effort lack of effort of the many but due to their lack strength. The entrance of the Kingdom of Heaven is narrow and restrictive like the Paris turnstile. Jesus goes on to state that many will backdrop for entrance. They will yell out to Christ at the door and say how they knew him and what they had done for him. But Christ will deny knowing them because it seems that during all the time they thought they knew him, they never really knew him. It leads the reader to wonder "do I really know Christ or do I only think that I know him?" There are many popular notions of Christ that really don't reveal his true identity. It may be "like Jesus" but it is not the "real Jesus." One mark of knowing the real Jesus is if our conception of Jesus and being his follower yields spiritual strength... the kind that allows us to resist temptation and press our way through the narrow gate. If we do not know this type of friendship with Christ and comfort of the Holy Spirit then we will find ourselves still waiting on the outside while we watch others enter. This is the saddest type of rejection because it is rooted in our lack of preparedness. We don't know God because we never took time to know Him.
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| The Gates of Hell, Auguste Rodin |
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
So who then can be saved? Who enters God's doors? Who is important to God and who will He recognize? In the verses in Luke Jesus starts off by listing the great Patriarchs of the Hebrew Scripture: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then he lists other obvious V.I.P.'s such as the Old Testament Prophets. But who else gains entrance? Christ says that it will be many of those at the back of the line. The ones at the very end will be preferred to those in the beginning. That is the logic of the Kingdom of God: those who are overlooked and celebrated in this life are valued in the next life. God does not look for those who make a big show of their giving, public allegiance to him or "great" acts of faith: he can see past the smoke and mirrors. God searches for the humble of sincere and simple faith. They are those who may have to enter through the backdoor in this world but will be greeted at the gates of Heaven, in Jesus, as honored guest.
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