(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. I can imagine that the main streets in and out of the city probably had huge gates. Perhaps there were other smaller ones, ones that might have been used for funeral processions. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He would enter by the wide main gate, but would end his life at the narrow gate of the tomb.
Many people with many purposes would be entering by the wide, main gate of Jerusalem, but Jesus would advise using a narrower gate. By same twist of God’s logic, wide gates lead nowhere, but narrow gates allow entry in to banquet hall for peoples from the north, south, west and east and feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The wide gates may have led to banqueting halls and recording of Jesus’ words, but those in those places had not met Jesus because Jesus said he did not recognize or know them. Wide is the gate to the city and narrow is the gate leading to the grave. Jesus entered the gates of death and kicked down the doors of death. He then rose triumphantly leading Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets into the banquet of life with peoples from the north, the south, the west, and the east.
Will many be saved? Salvation does not come from casual conversation with the Lord; it comes from sincere conversation, from learning the ways of the Lord. How do we listen to the Lord? What choices do we make about doors and conversations with the Lord? We seem to make allowances for our pet projects and less than little allowance for the projects of other people. Narrow gates and keeping the purpose of the Sabbath are two lessons we can garner from this passage of Luke’s gospel.