And Jesus shows us what to do and what to avoid, if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
He says: "Enter ye in at the Strait Gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth unto destruction, and many there be which go in thereat because strait is the Gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it."
The Broad Way, looking so easy and attractive at first, is the way of sin, and leads downwards to destruction. The gate is wide open, and so tempting.
The Narrow Way leads upwards, to Everlasting Life.
The entrance to it is narrow and strait, and the path needs courage and perseverance to walk in it bravely; but at the end there are "pleasures for evermore," and no more pain or sorrow or death, but Eternal Life! St. Paul says "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
Shall we not accept Him Who is Himself the Way? He is the Way, all along the path, let it be smooth or rough. He is the Truth, and will never deceive us. He is the Life, and in Jesus Christ it is reserved in Heaven for us.
[V. The Last Supper]
The Jewish Feast of the Passover drew near, and our dear Lord sent two of His disciples to prepare for it. He told them they were to go to a certain house in Jerusalem and they would find an upper room furnished; and there they were to make ready to eat the Passover, as all other Jewish men did at this season.
It will help us very much to understand this last supper of our Lord and Saviour if we go back and recall the circumstances of the first Passover supper fourteen hundred years before.
We read in the 12th of Exodus: "It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their generations."