These two nuns, who happened to be nurses in a Catholic hospital, had made a trip out to far reaches of the county to visit a patient. On the way back, they ran out of gas on a pretty deserted road. Finally, after about 15 minutes a guy in a pickup truck stopped to help. He told them he would be happy to siphon some gas from his truck, but he didn’t have a container to put it in. Well, fortunately, one of the sisters was able to produce a large bedpan and the guy said “THAT’LL WORK!”  and siphoned half a gallon into the bedpan. He assured them that amount would easily get their little Toyota to the gas station and then waved goodbye. As the nuns were carefully pouring the gas into their tank a state trooper came by. He stopped and watched for a minute and then said, “SISTERS, I REALLY DON’T THINK THAT’S GONNA WORK, BUT YOU SURE HAVE FAITH!”

Some people do seem to have a bigger and stronger faith than others don’t they? How about Matthew the tax collector? Jesus is passing through Capernaum where Matthew worked as a tax collector and all Jesus says is “FOLLOW ME” and Matthew punches out, files away his time card, and he’s off to follow Jesus! Such faith!

Or maybe not. Maybe Jesus came along at a time in Matthew’s life when he was filled with doubt. Maybe he is somewhat ashamed of making his living by working for the hated Romans who occupied his homeland and collecting money from his brother Jews. Maybe Matthew had tried every other option, had tried every other door and found his life was quickly moving toward yet another dead end when Jesus came into his life. Maybe following sounded a whole lot better than staying put.

And maybe Matthew was just the kind of person Jesus was thinking of when He told the Pharisees – with a heavy dose of sarcasm – “it’s not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous” – quote unquote – but the sinners. Jesus calls Matthew and the other disciples to follow, and in this morning’s Gospel lesson, our Lord describes the kind of door He is calling them to follow Him through – a narrow door. What makes it narrow? Apparently, because Jesus says a lot of folks will try to ENTER AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO.

And Jesus adds that the gate to eternal destruction is wide open. Everyone can fit through that entrance – all at once if necessary. What do you make of that?

Someone came up with the idea of diagramming the narrow door and the wide door. Both of them are 2 sides of a triangle. The wide door triangle looks like a V with an enormous open entrance. But the freedom that accompanies this entrance is an illusion. As one moves through life the walls close in, so to speak.

The triangle that symbolizes the narrow door is like an upside down V, with the tiniest of openings at the entrance. But once you pass through that narrow door entrance, life opens wide and is fully experienced and eternity is a never-ending communion with God.

The concept of the door to life being narrow isn’t completely foreign to us. We see examples of the narrow door leading to a fully experienced life in other ways. For instance, education is a narrow door. There is a lot of concern about education in America these days. We’ve been hearing for a long time that our students are falling behind other developed countries in math and science, but lately, educators are alarmed at the lack of proficiency in history and geography. A professor named James O’Neill gave his COLLEGE FRESHMEN students a basic facts test. No trick questions, just an assessment to illustrate to his students that they needed to be serious about learning. According to his students….Ralph Nader is a baseball player. Charles Darwin discovered gravity. The Great Gatsby was a magician. Sid Caesar was an early Roman emperor, Jefferson Davis played guitar for the band Jefferson Airplane, and Socrates was an American Indian chief. On the geography portion, Cape Town is in the United States, Beirut is in Germany and Camp David is in Israel.

Comedian Joe Hackman was quoted as saying, “At one time I wanted to be a cop, but you have to be 6’1”, know karate and carry a gun. Then I thought I’d become a teacher, but you have to be 6’1”, know karate and carry a gun. And yet, education is one of those narrow doors that leads to limitless horizons.

On the other hand, a young man QUITS school because he wants to be free. At first, it is mission accomplished. No more studying into the night. Earn money instead. As time passes, though, his employment options offer an increasingly narrow band of jobs. The inverted teepee will get progressively narrower.

There are other narrow doors in life. Physical fitness and proper diet are narrow doors that demand our attention and commitment. The wide door says “Come on in this way, where it doesn’t matter a whit what you eat and drink or how much.” And caring for yourself and exercising isn’t a rule! No law says you have to participate.

A doctor came up with what he calls a miracle diet pill. He explained the pill to an overweight patient. THESE PILLS ARE NOT TO BE SWALLOWED AT ALL. YOU JUST SPILL THEM ON THE FLOOR TWICE A DAY. THEN YOU PICK THEM UP AND PUT THEM BACK ON THE SHELF ONE PILL AT A TIME.

“STRIVE TO ENTER BY THE NARROW DOOR, ” Jesus said. “FOR MANY WILL SEEK TO ENTER AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO.”  But, not because God designed it that way. Make no mistake, God didn’t offer up His only Son the cross to save only a portion of His creation from damnation because He figured heaven was too small to  hold everyone who ever lived. God had in mind a wide open gate, where following in the path He laid out for us would have been a completely natural expression for all of us.

But sin corrupted that plan and suddenly the door slammed shut. It was necessary for Jesus to enter the picture and to pry open the door for us because we couldn’t possibly do it on our own. Jesus opened the door to heaven and He continues to hold it open and to reach out to us and invite us to take hold of His hand. He opens that door for every last one of us.

Have you seen this advertisement pop up on your computer screen where the young woman is wondering aloud, I WONDER WHO’S OUT THERE ON THE INTERNET SEARCHING FOR ME?  For a small fee, you can find out if that high school flame is trying to find you. Maybe it’s just me, but that ad comes off kind of sad and pathetic. Does anyone out there want me and need me? I just want to be wanted. Loneliness can make any of us do some things we thought we’d never do. It can be overpowering.

And then Jesus reaches out and loves the least of us. The kingdom of heaven is big enough for everyone. Yes, entrance to that eternal kingdom can be narrow. Because God’s grace is free, but it isn’t cheap. God’s creation is magnificent, but its people are tainted with sin. We are His chosen. Which door will we choose?

There is a hand extending from the narrow entrance. Grab hold of that hand in God’s Word, in the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, and in worship. We aren’t very good at making the right choice alone. That’s why the entrance to God’s kingdom appears narrow. But the Savior intends to pull us through the narrow entrance into the limitless, eternal horizon of life with Him. AMEN