The Road Less Travelled
Matthew 7:13-14
Robert Frost ends his poem “The Road Not Taken” with these words,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
We could discuss the meaning of his poem, but I would not be able to discuss it well.
Earlier in his poem, he mentions that both roads were equally used. Here he writes one is less
“travelled by.” I don’t know what he is trying to say through that. But here in this stanza, the
writer says he came across two roads in a wood. He had to choose one road or the other. He
chose the one that was not used as much. According to him, that choice was a difference maker.
In 1979, AC/DC came out with a song that I just watched on video which was
performed live three years ago. Thousands of people were literally jumping in unison and
singing along, and many of them were wearing light up devil’s horns. Some of the words they
sang were:
Living easy, living free Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be Taking everything in my stride
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme Ain't nothing I would rather do
Going down, party time My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell On the highway to hell
Highway to hell I'm on the highway to hell
Two roads diverged in a wood, and AC/DC led them down the road most travelled by.
Jesus came to a homestretch in his teaching about life in the kingdom of God. As he
begins to close his sermon, he calls them to make a choice. Those who don’t make a choice have
made a choice. He gives the word picture of two roads. Each road has a gate. Following that
gate there is a description of the road and a one word description of its destination. Let’s explore
these roads, but note, Jesus calls us to use “the road less travelled” though not necessarily in the
way of Robert Frost.
As we look at Jesus’ piece of poetry or Hebrew parallelism, he shows us that there are
two gates. One gate is wide. That gate must be wide because many people will use it. This gate
is broad because people of many different religions walk through it: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
and so much more. Not only that, people who have “no religion” walk through it; atheists,
agnostics, humanists, naturalists. People who worship themselves walk through this gate.
The other gate is narrow. Only certain people will walk through this gate, people who
desire to follow Jesus Christ. This is the gate Jesus challenges people to enter, but few do so.
People who use the other gate might claim the people who use the narrow gate are narrow
minded. Yet, we find truth to be narrow minded. If I asked you, what is 2 + 2, what would you
answer? (4) If I said another answer, would I be wrong? Knowing the truth and living by the
truth is being narrow-minded. In this sense, the kingdom of God is narrow-minded. We are
people of the truth.
Well, these two gates have two roads that follow. The wide gate has a broad road,
because there are many different ways to live. You can follow the ways of AC/DC on this road
or the teachings of Oprah Winfrey. You can be a fundamentalist Buddhist or a lax Buddhist and
you are still on the same road. Do you realize that adding more lanes to a road makes congestion
worse? This road is really wide and getting wider, ever full of people.
On the other hand, the road of the kingdom of God is pretty narrow. You won’t want to
hear this. But the word narrow is not the best translation of this word that describes this road.
One translation uses the word “difficult.” We get the word “tribulation” or “affliction” from it.
It seems difficult, because if you travel on this road, you often have to go against your own
natural desires. In fact, if you travel through the wide gate on the broad road, you can do as you
please in any religion you please. But in this narrow gate and the difficult road, you are like a
snake shedding your skin or a caterpillar in the midst of a metamorphosis. The old must come
off and new must come on, and that can sometimes be painful.
Well, these two gates with two different roads have two different destinations. The wide
gate with the broad road leads to destruction. Listen to how this word “destruction” is used
elsewhere in the New Testament, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey
the gospel of or Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out
from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Thes 1:8). “By the same
word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men” ( 2 Pet. 3:7). This word “destruction” only seems to be used for the
judgment of the ungodly at the last day. Another term you might be familiar with is hell.
The narrow gate on the difficult road leads to life. This word refers to both spiritual
aliveness and everlasting life, which is spiritual aliveness to the max unhindered by sin. In the
words of Jesus from one of our memory verses in the past, “The thief comes only to steal and kill
and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). He also
said, “Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.” The narrow gate that has a difficult road brings about an ever increasing
spiritual aliveness that fully blossoms into an eternal and everlasting life.
The wide gate with the broad road that leads to destruction has many travelers. The
narrow gate on the difficult road that leads to life has few travelers. Intriguingly, Jesus says you
don’t have to look for the wide gate. Everyone is going through it. Everyone is doing it. But
Jesus does say about those who walk through the narrow gate, only a few find it. In other words,
there must be something going on in their lives that they start searching for something more. In
other words, God starts doing something in their lives and they realize the futility of the direction
they are going. They begin to search. They then find Jesus and way of the kingdom of God.
Jesus is teaching the disciples and the crowds that gathered around him, “Enter through
the narrow gate.” In other words, enter into him. Live by faith in Jesus who is the way and the
truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through him. Follow his upside down
teachings that seem so out of place in this world. Your destination will be eternal life with him.
Let me close by changing the final stanza of Robert Frost’ power “The Road Not Taken:”
I shall be telling this with great joy
In heaven for ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.