Wednesday, May 11, 2011

a weird little detail

"There’s a weird little detail that is easily missed, and I think brings the whole thing into focus. In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples to “strive to enter through the narrow door, for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.
Unlike the gate-teaching in the Gospel of John that is often lost, this teaching from the Gospel of Luke is much better known.
And there’s the problem. If one isn’t careful, you’d read “I am the gate” in John and think it’s Jesus talking about the same thing as in Luke.
It isn’t.
The teaching from Luke is known because of its moralistic tone. Walk the “straight and narrow,” and therefore strive to make it into God’s Kingdom.
That may be what Jesus was saying in Luke. But, that certainly isn’t what Jesus is saying in the Gospel of John.
This is a completely different teaching.
Because the sheep aren’t the ones entering the door—Jesus is going in the door."

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