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Luke 13 "Narrow Minds and the Narrow Gate"

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down." (Luke 13:1-9)

The Jews were a subject people. Although they had their own council of religious rulers, these rulers had little power compared to the Romans. Some people came to Jesus to complain of how the Romans were persecuting them. It seems that Pilate, the Roman governor, had executed a group of zealots as they were worshiping God. But Jesus turned this physical question into a spiritual question. "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?" When people die, is it the punishment of God on them for their sins? He gave another example of an accident that happened in Jerusalem, a tower that had fallen on eighteen people by the pool of Siloam. I could give you the example of the 28 people on the bus in Sri Lanka, that was bombed by terrorists last week, or the hundreds that perished in floods in Pakistan. Are they worse than all the other sinners in Sri Lanka and Pakistan that this happened to them? Jesus answers with a "No" to this question. They are not worse than the other sinners. In fact they might even be righteous, like the men in Galilee who were killed while worshiping God. Like the three girls who were shot while in a prayer circle at school in America just a few months ago. When calamity strikes we should not immediately begin to suspect that God is punishing them for sin in their lives.
But at the same time the result of sin is death. Paul explains it this way, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 6:23) The natural consequence of sin is death, just as the natural consequence of gravity is that a ball will fall when I drop it, or the natural consequence of aging is that more of my hair falls out each time I take a shower. Jesus warns his listeners that unless you repent you will all likewise perish. God is not punishing people for sin, rather death is simply the natural result of sin. We should not look at these spectacular cases and try to find out what terrible sin God was angry with, rather we should realize that this is the end that we all will sooner or later come to. But let's not forget about that free gift of God. Jesus says that all will perish, unless they repent. It is possible to arrest the terrible disease of sin. It is possible to surgically remove the cancer of sin and avoid death all together. It is possible to have eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity." And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound-- think of it-- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. (Luke 13:10-17)

I am amused by a certain friend of mine who likes his eggs fried. We go to breakfast together once in a while at a family restaurant and both order the same breakfast special, bacon and eggs and toast. However on the picture in the menu, the eggs are scrambled which is just the way I like them. So every time he asks the waitress to make his eggs fried instead scrambled, and every time there is a new waitress she tells him, "no", it cannot be done. He gets upset and tells me "Why can't it be done, all the cook has to do is drop it on the frying pan a different way." Actually the problem is not with the cook, he knows how to do it. The problem is with the waitress who is not open to change. To her, there is one right way to do her job. I watched a silly movie the other night about an overnight delivery man. A young man mailed a letter by mistake to break up with his girlfriend and the whole movie was about his attempts to stop the delivery man from delivering the letter. But this man was determined to "get the mail through" No matter what happened he would not be persuaded to change his mind.
The Pharisees were like this with the traditions and rules that they had set up. What about you? I find that it is very good for me to take a good look at what I believe and decide what is unchangeable and what I am open to adapting to circumstances and the needs of the moment. Jesus decided that the woman who had been suffering for eighteen years was more important than the rule about not working on the Sabbath. But to the Pharisee the rule was more important than the woman. Like the waitress in the restaurant he could only see the "right way to do it" and missed the miracle that God was doing right in front of his eyes. Sometimes we need to do this with Bible beliefs that we hold. You might have learned something in Sunday School or a Bible study a long time back that you have put into your "unchangeable" beliefs. This is great, I am constantly challenging you to hide scripture in your heart. But we need to be careful with the interpretation of that scripture that we also tuck away with it. Don't become so dogmatic, so tight in your thinking that you are not open to a new way of looking at that verse. If you are stuck in one way of interpreting the Bible then you are basically saying that you have the Bible mastered and there is really nothing new left for you to learn. Instead always approach God's word with an open mind. Appreciate that "His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts." The Pharisee had memorized the ten commandments, hidden them in his heart. As far as he was concerned, he was standing up for the truth of scripture. But because his mind was closed he missed out on the fuller truth that God wanted him to learn. He missed out on the good news that God is more concerned about people than the law.

Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches." And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us, and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from.' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets,' But He will say, "I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

Are you open to learn new things? Sometimes people criticise Christians for being too dogmatic, too centered on this old book of truth, and not open to new ideas. The Amish people in Pennsylvania have really taken this to extremes. I am sure that you have probably seen some of the movies about these people. They live in modern day America, but they don't use anything with electricity, or engines. Their clothes are the same today as 200 years ago. It is like they are caught in a time warp. The reason why, is that they believe that change is bad. They believe that for them to be disciples of Christ is for them to be different from the world and so they resist any kind of change whatsoever. But Jesus constantly used language that forced people to think about old things in new ways. "What is the kingdom of God like?" The people are ready to hear Him talk about the temple, or the prophets, or Moses and the law. Instead He uses something totally different, a mustard seed, yeast in a loaf of bread, and they are able to learn a new way of thinking about God. Jesus' point was that the kingdom starts small and then has a very wide-ranging impact. For these people the kingdom was glory of the temple, the center of their lives, if Jesus had tried to teach them in the regular way they would have missed it altogether.
I try to stay open to what God might be teaching me, not just in His word but also in His world. I am fascinated by God's creation and how many parallels there are in the natural world to the realm of faith. You can see God's design in so many things. I am learning so much about the fatherhood of God, as I observe my own relationship with my son. I am surprised again and again as I read the news of the world, how little has changed since the days of the Bible. It is like searching for buried treasure, or Easter eggs; there mixed in with all the ordinary things are wonderful truths of God.
Another asked Him, "Lord are there few who are saved?" Again the answer is a little bit mysterious, calculated to throw them off balance. "Strive to enter through the narrow gate." I have lots of practice for this. Everytime I ride the train I strive to enter through the narrow gate. But think about it, who chooses the narrow gate? When I come to those automatic ticket machines I always choose the path of least resistance. I head straight for the gate I can get through the easiest. But what if I went up the wrong stairs by mistake. Instead of the outside loop of the Yamanote line, I got the inside loop. Instead of the train headed for Shinjuku, I got the one headed for Shinagawa. I must turn around and fight my way back down the stairs. Even though all the people are coming the other way, I cannot go with them, I must strive to get to my goal. Folks, most of the people of this world are headed the wrong direction, and so the path of least resistance is the wrong path. The wide gate is the wrong gate. There is one way to eternal life, one way to heaven, that is faith in Jesus Christ. This is the narrow gate, believe that Jesus is Lord, and that He is alive today, risen from the dead. It is not enough to come to church. It is not enough to give to charity. It is not enough to pray or read the Bible. You must enter in through Jesus. Because the time is coming when even though you seek the door, it won't be opened to you. And even though you say "Lord, Lord, open for us", He will answer "I do not know you". And even though you say to Him, "But Jesus, I went to your church, I gave an offering, I read your Bible and prayed your prayer.", He will still say, "I tell you I do not know you." Some people would want to make the gate wider. "Oh, if you are a good person then God will forgive you.", "If you live your life by the Bible then you will be alright." But Jesus says that "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved..." (John 10:9) Do you know Jesus personaly? If Jesus saw you would He call out to you, "Hey, Sydney or Hey, Sachiko" or would He just shake His head, "I do not know you". Somebody asked me the other day, "Do you know Prime Minister Hashimoto?" I answered, "Not personally". I think they meant do you know who the Prime Minister is. Folks, everybody know who Jesus is, everybody has heard of Jesus. If somebody asked you today, "Do you know Jesus?" Could you answer, "Yeah, He is my good friend". "Yeah, He is my Lord and Savior". If you would like to know Jesus on this level, it is easy to do. There is no line to wait in. You don't need a backstage pass or a security clearance. In fact He has come to you.