Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The “golden rule,” as we call it. To Jesus, it is nothing less than the perfect summary of the Torah (Jewish law) and the Old Testament prophets (Matthew 7:12). The rules and regulations of Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) seem alien and intimidating to us. But in those five books, Jesus sees the vision of a community built on reciprocal compassion and generosity, a society in which everyone’s needs are seen to by their neighbors. We should return to the Torah as many times as it takes for us to see in those pages the same thing Jesus sees.
From its beginning, the Sermon on the Mount has been envisioned for the community more than for the individual. Teachings on reconciliation, honesty, generosity, and judgment all assume a community. And then Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets who come to you as sheep but inwardly are bloodthirsty wolves (Mt 7:16).” Be careful who is allowed to wield influence in the Christ-centered community. Charisma and intelligence might be little more than a smokescreen for something quite opposite of the reconciliation, honesty, and generosity prescribed in the Sermon. The community is too precious for the wolves to have their way.
That’s why, when Jesus speaks of the narrow gate (hard to get to, hard to find) and the wide gate (easy to get to, easy to find), we are not to picture not a quaint gate on a fence, but a large, sturdy gate into a city. When this word “gate” occurs several times elsewhere in the New Testament, it is always in reference to the entrance to a city. We’re not just asking ourselves, What kind of person am I? but What kind of city do we want to live in? If the Kingdom of Heaven were a place with an address and a zip code, what would that place be like? If a whole city, a whole economy, a whole culture, were organized around Jesus, what would it look like?
Jesus’ central proclamation, from which his whole ministry flows, is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Mt 4:17).” In other words, God’s reign is reorienting all things in heaven and on earth around Jesus; let yourselves be reoriented around him, too. Yes, Jesus is organizing a community around himself. You could describe that community quite well by reciting the words of the Sermon on the Mount. It is a community, an economy, a culture, a city on a hill in which no one is ruled by their anger, desire, or stress. Everyone is happy to not receive recognition for their good deeds. No one is accumulating treasures they don’t need. And it is a community in which people are embraced and loved, not judged. This all may sound like “pie in the sky,” but no; this is the hardest thing in the world. It is the narrow gate.
Do you want to live there? Of course, the correct answer is yes. But fair warning – it’s a city full of losers, people who never get revenge on the bad guys, who don’t often get recognition for the good things they do, who worship only their crucified Lord. The winners who always come out on top, who are always recognized for how special they are, and who appear to be the safest and most secure people in the world – they have found themselves within the comfortable walls of the city with the wide gate, and perhaps missed out on the life Jesus is inviting them to live.
What will our choice be?