Strive to enter through the narrow door.

Luke13:22

There’s a well-known joke about a reckless taxi driver and an overzealous priest arriving at the gates of Heaven. They are greeted by St. Peter who grants the driver immediate access, while only a conditional acceptance of the priest. The latter, outraged, protests: “How can you grant special access to a lowly taxi driver when I dedicated my entire life to the church. I celebrated Mass multiple times a day, did 10 rosaries a week and I was famous for delivering lengthy, chastising homilies.” St. Peter nods sympathetically. “Up here we go by results. While you preached, everyone slept. While he drove, everyone prayed.”

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Is it wrong of me that I thought of this at Mass during the reading of Christ’s parable of the narrow door? In Luke 13:22 we read His answer to the Pharisees: “Try to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter but will not be able.”

Like His pronouncement about “the eye of the needle,” Christ reminds us that those expecting to be greeted at the gates may be sorely disappointed. Beyond shedding our expectations we need to lose our unspoken sense of privilege to find our way to grace: “Indeed, some are last who were first, and some are first who will be last.” 

Christ tells us to sit at the least favoured place at the table so we might be invited, by the host, to a better seat, rather than claim the place of honour only to be demoted. Humility is a quality of being, not a trophy to display.

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Fr. Nick Meisl, a faculty member at St. Mark’s College in Vancouver, noted in his homily on this Gospel that it “reminds us that salvation isn’t automatic just because we belong to the right group or community. Entry into God’s kingdom is not about having a ‘pass,’ but about whether Christ recognizes His own love, mercy, and service alive in us.”

As Fr. Nick says, ‘Belonging to the Church helps but each of us must personally choose to follow Christ through the narrow gate of faith and discipleship.” He wryly compares this to the Nexus line in airports and asks, rhetorically: “Is there a Nexus line to heaven?” The answer, resoundingly, is no.

Time and agai we are confronted with behaviour that would suggest otherwise. The phrase “holier than thou” comes to mind. I distinctly remember a businessman who insisted that a migrant friend of mine be excluded from a church workshop for what can only be called racist grounds. We did rejected the request and the businessman resigned from our committee citing our lax morals. Imagine our surprise when this same upstanding community member was later fired for predatory behaviour. 

Scripture does not ask us to appear Godly. Matthew decries it: “Do not be like the hypocrites…” What we are invited to do is arguably hardest of all: Accept those who need compassion, whichever group they belong to, whatever values they hold. This is not necessarily to endorse differences but to acknowledge the human being at the centre of the conversation. This helps to shape community, and create a space at the city gate where we might gather in the hopes of being invited in. 

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The idea of the narrow door has a pragmatic connection to historical reality. To quote Fr. Nick again: “In ancient Jerusalem, during the day the large gates of the city were open for crowds to pass. At night, those gates were closed, leaving only a small gate through which people entered one at a time. The guard at that gate needed to recognize the person—to know them personally.”

I can’t pretend to know exactly what measure will be used to determine if we are fit for entry, but the clues in the pearly gates instruction manual seem pretty clear. The Bible tells us to treat our neighbour as we want to be treated, to love one another, do good for others and put our neighbours first. It instructs us to live lives of grace and forgiveness and be generous to the most vulnerable. If we believe that the good we embody changes us substantively, then I am sure we will be transformed into the person Christ expects to see when we amble up to the gate. Here’s hoping He will see us, recognize us as His own, and say, “Enter. You are most welcome.”