Try To Enter By The Narrow Door – Many Will Try To Enter And Will Fail

Fr Dexter Brereton, CSSp ThM STL

Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed

The context in which Jesus spoke these words is important and can help us to enter more fully into their deeper meaning. Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem. The main portal of entry, was the wide gate which permitted the passage of animal traffic and carts loaded with goods of various kinds.  To either side were two narrow entry ways (‘doors’) for pedestrians unburdened by goods. Jesus uses this living example to illustrate the need for disciples to rid themselves of their cargo of “earthly priorities and concerns, their preoccupation with, race, social status, popularity, wealth and what have you.” Jesus is saying here to his disciples that ultimately these things are useless. We make our way to life much faster if we travel light and enter through the narrow door.

The expression ‘enter by the narrow door’ also refers to the need for prospective followers of Jesus to demand high moral standards of themselves, standards which demand much work and effort. A community or country which, over time ceases to demand high moral standards of itself, is a community in deep trouble.

Contemporary Trinidadian society may provide just such an example. Today, we have groups of persons claiming “rights” for themselves, even if it is at the expense of the public good. The results have been disastrous, for example with our banking, medical or legal institutions where exploitative, exorbitant pricing policies betray the fact that the “owners and shareholders” believe they have a “right to be rich”.On the other hand, the country has also had to endure the theft of copper cables from the public telephone network because opportunists among our scrap metal workers claim the” right to make a living.”To “enter the narrow door” in these cases is to balance notions of “personal rights” (e.g. the right to private property, the right to accumulate wealth) with notions of “responsibility to the public good” ( e.g. safeguarding, the health and wealth of the community, including the poorest among us, making sure that people are not “cut-off” from communications with the rest of the country).

Taking the expression “try to enter by the narrow door” even further, in regard to sport, the country seems to be learning its lesson. The recent successes of our athletes at the Commonwealth games and later at the Pan-American cycling championships remind me of how far we have travelled as a nation. For older Trinis like myself, November 19, 1989 is a ‘date that will live in infamy.’ It was the day we famously, and painfully lost to the USA 1-0 as we failed to qualify for the World Cup football competition. We showered the team with adulation and song, we had the striking ‘red day’ when all citizens were encouraged to wear red. We thought then that PR and PRAISE could somehow substitute for HARD WORK and PATIENT CONSISTENT DEVELOPMENT. We told ourselves that we  would WILL the team to succeed. We would blast our way on to the football stage. Alas, we were defeated by a far more determined, far more systematic foe. Using the words of this weekend’s gospel, we failed to ‘enter by the narrow door’, i.e. the door of consistent effort and patience.

Lord, helps us understand that Discipleship, is not for the lazy or the half-hearted. The path to Eternal life demands all our effort