What is the Narrow Door?

The Narrow Door - Luke 13

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 

I am always drawn to passages where Jesus challenges the crowds about what it means to enter God’s kingdom and how often we misunderstand what he is saying. In today’s text, Jesus responds to the question, “Lord are only a few going to be saved.”  This is obviously an important question, so how does Jesus reply?

First, let’s not water down what Luke records here. The main point Jesus makes is, “the door is narrow and few find it.”  Does Jesus mean that there will only be a few people in heaven? Based on many other passages in the gospels and Paul’s letters to the early churches, I would say this is not what he is teaching. But why? And what does he mean by the “narrow door”?

In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me.”  Jesus is the narrow door.  It is a narrow door in the sense that all other ways to enter the kingdom of God don’t work?  Why? Because they are all based on going through someone else or some other system of becoming right with God. I.e. works righteousness. 

There were many who were listening to Jesus who did not really know who He was, and he is about to head toward Jerusalem where he will die for the sins of the world. Jesus has very little time to clarify the message of who He is and how salvation comes through Him alone. Through grace alone. Through faith alone. 
This is a narrow road to be sure but it is open to all who seek it. God wants all people to be with him in paradise and sent Jesus to earth to show His great love for all people.   But let’s not water down the gospel by saying there is “another way”, or “all roads lead to God”. This is not what Jesus taught and neither should we. 

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