Matthew 7: The Narrow Gate and the House on the Rock

The hillside above the lake was still that morning. I had been speaking a long while, about the poor in spirit, about light, about treasure, about not being afraid of tomorrow. And the people had not moved. They were sitting in the grass with their knees drawn up, listening the way the hungry listen. And now I came to the part that is hardest of all. Not what you do with God. What you do with each other.

Do not judge, I told them, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. I watched their faces as I said it. Some of them looked down. Everyone there had a neighbour they had already decided about.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, I asked them, and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own? You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them underfoot, and then turn and tear you to pieces. Not everything holy is to be flung into every hand. There is a kind of love that knows when to be quiet.

Then I spoke to them about asking. Because I knew how many of them had stopped. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? They smiled at that, even the tired ones. Every parent on that hill knew the answer. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

So in everything, I said, do to others what you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. All of it. Gathered up and put into your hands, small enough to carry.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. I did not say it to frighten them. I said it because a road that costs you nothing has never taken anyone anywhere.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognise them. Not by their words. Not by the sound of their praying. By what grows.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?' And then I will tell them plainly: I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.

And so I finished the way a builder finishes, with a house, and with weather. Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was its fall. Both men heard the same words. Both houses stood in the same sunshine. Only the storm told the difference.

When I had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at my teaching, because I taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. They had come up the hill expecting opinions. What they heard was a foundation. And the wind off the lake moved through the grass, and for a long moment, nobody stood up.