Take Aim
Gospel Reflection on Matthew 7:6, 12-14
Today’s reading can be found on the USCCB website.
Enter through the narrow gate, Jesus says; the narrow gate is the one that will give life. I find this phrase of Jesus’ difficult for abundant reasons, one of which is that I have a tendency to stoke my anxiety. I think its flames will push out any hesitations if I log every detail and think through every possible scenario. But this is not how God works.
Rather than wonder at which decisions bring me to the broad gate, I need to change my perspective and think of my orientation more as an archer: to which target am I aiming? Do I take aim at the target closer to me and easier in which to aim, or do I take the target that may be out of reach but offers a much more satisfactory prize? Into which do I put all my effort?
The point is not to achieve a bullseye - nowhere does Jesus say that entering the narrow gate is only worthwhile if we make the fastest time on the constricted route, or get to the end unscathed. If the narrow gate leads to life then the only reasonable conclusion we can come to is that it leads to life because Jesus himself is there: the way, the truth, and the life.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, a different evangelist shares that Jesus himself says “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (Jn 10:7, 9). We may be aiming for the target that’s small, distant, and perhaps even beyond what we believe our abilities are to achieve, but in putting our whole life toward launching that arrow to the narrow gate, we are aiming for Jesus himself.
And indeed, if he emptied himself so much as to be born in human likeness (Phil 2:7), how much more has he emptied himself so that when we point ourselves to him, he becomes the steadfastness of the arrow. We no longer rely on our ability, but trust in his fidelity, his goodness, and his great love to fill up what we lack.
No matter how much I might stoke my anxiety, his benevolent love is trustworthy and will be faithful to me for even longer than I can hold my anxieties. When I authentically search for the narrow gate (that is, Jesus), in that instant he is there with me, guiding me toward that narrow gate, to the fullness of life in him.
As he says, it is not an easy path; beyond the gate is constricted. Yet the Shepherd himself is my guide and compass and there is rich pasture to nourish his flock beyond the gate. May we take heart, not fear, and aim to be with Jesus, our Gate, our Shepherd, and our Saviour.
A well-aimed post! I have thought about the Narrow Gate being Jesus.
I have also thought of Him as the Shepherd who hunts out the straying sheep, and brings it home through the gate.
You have welded the two images together with Jesus redirecting out straying arrows (or guiding our aim) if we are willing to co-operate with Him!
I suppose another image would be to see Jesus as our Goal and Goalie, not blocking our shots but stretching out long arms with pierced hands to guide them in when they would otherwise be a miss!
This I needed to hear! Thank you!