Narrow Door

The Screwtape Letters is a classic book, where C.S. Lewis came up with the idea of a senior demon named Screwtape telling his trade secrets about how to corrupt a human soul-

Regarding the narrow gate mentioned in our Gospel today, Screwtape would say:

1). A broad, constructed road, requires a great capital investment. Such a road leads either to the king's palace, or somewhere very useful and can be safely frequented because such broad roads are properly policed. The broad road is wide enough for you to do want you want; what everybody else is doing –versus-- a “narrow road” is a precipitous path that is likely to lead through robbers' territory.

The context from our Gospel, however, shows that Jesus advises his church not to follow the majority. Narrow is the way that leads to salvation. Many are the opportunities to fall into mortal sin and forfeit your salvation in Christ unless you urgently repent. After baptism, being saved means laying down the human burden of our sinfulness in repentance and confession so we fit through the narrow door of salvation.

2). A demon would also assert that the toll system of the broad road is quite rational. Markets and inns need policing, caravans and individual merchants, traders and countryfolk with produce to sell need protection. The inhabitants pay for the upkeep of their wall and broad gate. There are toll-collectors and spies keeping a sharp watch.

Back then, clothing worn on the person on the broad road was toll-free, so people passed through the broad gate puffed up with many layers of garments (the heat did not trouble them too much). Toll had to be paid on slaves as well as cattle. Slaves back then were often prisoners of war or of debt. If the slave owner declared at the toll-house, ‘He is my son,' the rabbis debated whether, when he tried to sell him as a slave inside, he was estopped from denying his free status'. One was certainly entitled to deceive toll-collectors even on oath. They were, after all, oppressors.

The Gospel truth is that just as many people would do everything reasonable to find an entry to a city which would diminish their financial loss, the children of light must strive to find that entry to the Kingdom of Heaven which will admit them to 'life' while it disencumbers them of attachment to their belongings, strips them of their superfluities, and reminds them that they will be judged on the corporal works of mercy; that is, on how they fed and clothed the alien and stranger who is Jesus in disguise.

3. A demon would also want you to deceive yourself so that you only see the broad road. For St. Augustine, self-deception results from sinful behavior. For him, “the proper exercise of one’s intellectual capacities depends in part on one’s moral behavior and its resulting dispositions.”

In short, moral virtue is necessary for intellectual excellence. Sinful actions, on the other hand, not only destroy moral virtue but also undermine one’s ability to understand oneself, God, and the nature of goodness.

St. Augustine believed that our sinful choices will form habits of making decisions on the basis of a distorted view of goodness.

Self-deception often leads to false assurance of salvation.

James 1 also warns against the danger of self-deception. For example, verse 22 states, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Here again James is referring to deceiving oneself about ones salvation. He is explaining what verse 21 means by receiving the word: it means not simply to hear the word but to do it. James later mentions in 2:19 that even demons, who obviously are not saved, possess orthodox belief.

As Gregg T. Elshof puts it, “Self-deception occurs whenever we manage our own beliefs without an eye on making progress toward the truth. It is most likely to occur when we have strong emotional attachments to a belief on some topic.

4). In conclusion, ancient cities were surrounded by a wall with gates, opened by day, but closed at night or during time of danger.

When the gates are closed, entrance is possible only through the narrow gate (a small gate built into the large gate where only citizens can enter). The herald sounds the alarm. "Hurry!" cries Jesus to the lost sheep before the storm breaks loose. Don't delay! The time is at hand!"

An ancient city kept a register of its citizens, and Scripture teaches us that in heaven there the Book of Life—the list of those who had title to eternal life. Revelation 20:15 declares, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” The Book of Life is also mentioned in Revelation 3:5; 20:12; and Philippians 4:3.