I am fascinated by the migration patterns in birds. One of the most astounding migrations for me is the Demoiselle Crane. In late August and September each year, these birds take the one of the most difficult migrations in the world, when they cross (or attempt to) the Himalayan mountains to get to India where they will winter. The heights of the Himalayas, more than 5 miles above sea level seems to be no place for life at all. The towering range of mountains is largely responsible for the climate of the planet. Hurricane strength winds which create monsoons make the Demoiselle Crane’s migration over the mountains difficult at best and insurmountable at worst. Many just don’t make it from fatigue, hunger or falling prey to the golden eagles. Even though there are lower routes possible, this high near-impossible pass is hard-wired into the Cranes due to countless cycles of migration.
I wonder sometimes…do we really have it all wrong? In seeking “progress,” we try to go “up” and ascend. It appears from the Gospel passage today (LK 13: 22-30) that we might be mistaken in our “goals” and “successes”:
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.’
At first glance, it may appear that the “master of the house” is a bit unforgiving by not only refusing to open the door but actually saying that these asking for entrance are not even recognized. This seems to be more of a description of the behavior that we exhibit to each other, when we don’t check ourselves and only give “allowance” based on preference and exclusion. But, I wonder if the key to why the “master” does not recognize these who are knocking on the door, which is by the way “locked,” has to do with the entreaty in the passage just before this, where Jesus responds to the question, “…will only a few be saved?” Jesus tells them, “strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
Are we always looking for the “highway” instead of the winding road that we most often find ourselves on? This is not necessarily an admonition against directing some of our energies to productivity and resourcefulness that can add something to our livelihood, but perhaps it is a warning of the emphasis that we may place on these types of “success.” One thing is for sure – we are going to fail. We are not going to succeed in everything we attempt. We are going to come up short. We are going to find ourselves on the “backroads” of life more often than not, if we are honest with ourselves. The truth is that, as the Gospel says, we “will not be strong enough.” I’m not sure that this is an unsavory indictment though.
Who “locks” the door that the “master” in the Gospel will not open? I’m not sure that it isn’t us… that we are the ones who have “locked” the door. We try to avoid the difficulties that are involved with staying on the “lower path” – you know, the one that winds and has dips and sometimes ditches alongside that we stumble into ever so often. Is this the “narrow gate?” Can the way “down” be the way we must go? It sure seems that this is what Jesus is saying to us by his own example of self-emptying and self-giving. Remember the Gospel says that he has this discussion with his disciples while he is en route to Jerusalem, where he will be rejected, imprisoned, killed, and all for what? Where does this “path of emptiness” lead? Well, it looks something like being lifted up, raised, and transformed in the New Life of resurrection.
As the Gospel puts it: “…some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Perhaps we lock ourselves out and defeat ourselves because we are going the wrong way. Maybe we have actually locked ourselves in, by the way that we have ‘hardwired” ourselves through years and years of the same “migration” cycle, just like the Demoiselle Crane continuing to fly over the highest mountains of the planet even though there are lower paths that can be taken that will bring us to that safe place of renewal and, yes, transformation. By insisting on this “highway,” have we made ourselves unrecognizable not so much to God, but to ourselves? Do we knock on the “wrong door” for entrance into the kingdom of God?
By trying to be fast, furious and first, have we in fact gotten lost? And this “lost-ness” is one that we won’t let ourselves see, because we hold on to being on top and first. Here we are lost and last – REALLY last – because we cannot see that we are lost. Is it instead the “long and winding low road,” full of difficulty and the need for perseverance that will bring us where we need to be, which is….really LAST? Is this the same “last” place that Jesus entered by giving his very self only to be the REAL and NEW “first,” which is nonexclusive, i.e., for EVERYONE!
I don’t think Jesus is talking about an exclusiveness about how many or who will be “saved” so much as inviting us to pay attention to the road we are on, the path we are following, and making sure that it is the path of openness. The migratory way through life that does not try to “fly over” the things in life that can gift us with the most meaning, like taking the long way, being “last,” and thus, entering through the “narrow gate!” If we go the “lower way,” the way of emptying, like Jesus, we will encounter life where it is most real and where it can give us exactly what we need to see our way clear. Our strength will not be our own because we will not be alone. The strength shared in the vulnerability of this path of emptying is greater and fuller than anything we could contrive on any illusory “highway.” The “narrow gate” allows everyone together!
When we stop looking to the heights to get where we think we need to be, the “low way,” will reveal itself as probably exactly where we already are. The only requirement for being “saved” in this case is to humbly accept this way of vulnerability that will yes, involve suffering and some type of “death,” but will also lead to fullness of New Life returned. Just as the Demoiselle Cranes, after wintering in India, journey back to their Northern nesting grounds in the Spring, so can we return to our lives with the strength and fullness to embrace it with humble yet transformed commitment, recognizing that the pathway through the “narrow gate” is meant to be traveled together!
Peace,
Thomas