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21st Sunday of
the Year, Cycle C
St. Mark Parish
August 25, 2013
How Narrow Is the “Narrow
Gate”?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P.
Amato
The Whisker of a Tiger
A
woman begged the village shaman for a potion that would make her husband love
her again.
It
seems that before he had gone to war, he was warm, loving, and laughed easily,
but since his return he was angry, distant and humorless. The more she tried to
draw him back to her, the more isolated he became.
After
listening to her story, the shaman told her, “I think I can help you. I will make a potion for you, but you must
first find one of the ingredients.” She immediately agreed.
The
shaman told her that this potion must contain the whisker of a live tiger. “How can I possibly get a whisker from a
beast as fierce and powerful as a tiger?” she cried.
But
the shaman assured her he could only help make her husband love her again, if
she obtained the whisker. The next day she went to a place where she had once
seen a tiger. She saw nothing more than monkeys fighting in trees and birds
flying in the air.
The
second day she stayed longer and found a comfortable place to sit, but still no
tiger. Weeks passed. Then one morning she sensed the animal’s presence and then
saw him. She didn’t move, but the tiger saw her and ran away.
It
was a week before she saw the tiger again. Curiously, because of her gentle
presence, the tiger stopped running away.
Finally,
after months of bringing the tiger good things to eat and ever so slowly
reaching out to pet him, he finally was so comfortable in her presence that he
fell asleep, while she stroked his fur.
Once
the tiger was asleep, she took out a small pair of scissors and gently cut a
single whisker from the tiger’s snout and brought it to the shaman to make the
potion that would make her husband love her again.
Surprisingly,
the shaman said, “You do not need the potion
any longer. Throw away the whisker, but keep the knowledge you have gained. Live
by it and your husband will learn to love you once again.”
The Gospel
The man in the gospel also has a question
about making things better for himself and gets a strange answer to his request.
His question of Jesus is: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” It
sounds like if few are saved, then he’s not so sure he’s good enough to
qualify.
Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly,
but turns it around saying, “Strive to
enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and
will not be able.”
Notice, he’s made it very personal, as if to
say, “You’re concerned about how many
people are going to be saved? Well, start by looking in the mirror and ask
yourself, are you going to be saved.
And then adds: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will
seek to enter and will not be able to do so.”
The question then is what is this “door”
that Jesus is speaking about? It is the door you might call a change of heart, or
an inner transformation, or a different way of looking at things that creates
love, mercy, and forgiveness?
Application of the Story and Gospel
Recall that in our tiger story, it’s the
lady who needs to change, not the husband.
In the Gospel, it’s the man asking Jesus the question, who needs to
change, as well.
There are no magic potions to loving and being loved, to creating
family, to forgiving and being reconciled with one another. There’s no need to
get hold of a tiger’s whisker or have a magic potion.
As
with the lady in the tiger story, so with the man in the gospel: love, mercy
and forgiveness demand the hard work of patience, selflessness, and compassion.
These kinds of things are the “narrow door” that is difficult to pass through.
Jesus
promises that anyone willing to struggle through the “narrow door,” and
similarly anyone who is willing to “befriend the tiger,” will be welcomed into
the dwelling place of God.
Conclusion
Are you looking for a magic potion to right
the wrongs and reestablish the relationships in your life?
Come back with a tiger’s whisker and in the
care, attention, compassion, you will exert in getting it, you’ll have no need
of the potion.
You will have acquired all you need to turn
your life around. You will have entered the Kingdom of God through the narrow
gate!
