“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. The narrow gate that leads to life is found, not stumbled upon — the language of finding implies the seek of verse 7. The hard way is hard because it runs counter to the natural inclinations and social pressures that make the broad way easy. Luke 13:23–24 records someone asking whether only a few will be saved, and Jesus' response is to strive to enter through the narrow door. The few who find it are not an elite selected by God for salvation and the many excluded against their will; they are those who paid attention, sought, and found the way that is genuinely there to be found.
Church Fathers on Matthew 7:14
The Lord had warned us above to have a heart single and pure with which to seek God; but as this belongs to but few, He begins to speak of finding out wisdom. For the searching out and contemplation whereof there has been formed through all the foregoing such an eye as may discern the narrow way and strait gate; whence He adds, 'Enter ye in at the strait gate.'
Though it be hard to do to another what you would have done to yourself; yet so must we do, that we may enter the strait gate.
Otherwise; This third precept again is connected with the right method of fasting, and the order of discourse will be this; 'But thou when thou fastest anoint thy head;' and after comes, 'Enter ye in at the strait gate.'
Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!