"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." - Luke 13:24

"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." - Matthew 7:13

Once there lived a king with a magnificent castle. It had countless rooms and its spires reached up to the sky. It was said that in the castle no one would ever go hungry or could ever be sad, because of the magic of the king. Everyone wished that someday they could go to the castle and live there forever.

The king was a good and wise king, and he decided to issue a proclamation to the rest of the world. It promised a room in the castle to belong in forever for anyone who came to him. They had only to travel along a certain road and pass through a pearly gate to reach his castle.

Everyone was excited, and soon a long line of travelers could be found along the road, waiting to try their luck at the gate. The first of these was a wealthy merchant who had made his fortune trading throughout the world. He had brought many chests of gold and jewels with him, and he thought to himself, "With all my gold and jewels, I will surely be in the good graces of the king and be allowed to pass inside."

When he got to the gate, he was dismayed to see how narrow it was. His caravan of gold and jewels certainly would not fit through the gate. "Oh well, even one chest will do," he thought to himself, and proceeded to enter through the gate carrying a single chest of gold. But alas! The chest would not fit. Over the top of the chest, he could barely see the king standing on the other side of the gate waiting for him. "O good king!" he cried out. "Please help me bring this gold into your castle! Would it not be a magnificent gift to add to your treasury?"

But the king replied, "Never mind the gold, I have gold refined in fire and treasures that are much more precious than gold. Only come."

But the merchant would not be parted from his chest and backed away from the gate. As he did so, he spotted a much wider road that led to the other side of the castle, with a much bigger gate. "I will just go around to the other side and go through the bigger gate," he thought. "Surely the king would not want to leave such valuable gold behind." So he turned his caravan around and started on the wider road. As soon as he had traveled a little ways along the road, the road became rough and his chests of gold and jewels began to crack, spilling his treasures along the ground. At this he hurried along, but by the time he reached the wide gate only the chest of gold he carried was left of his treasures. It was heavy though, and the moment he passed through the wider gate, he tripped on a stone in the road, and the chest of gold he had been carrying fell with a loud thunk on his head. And so he died.

Next in line was a grubby fat man with a round potbelly. He had in his hands a bottle of wine, a loaf of fine bread, and a jar of honey to go with the bread. He thought to himself, "With this fine wine and bread and this jar of sweet honey, I will surely be in the good graces of the king and be allowed to pass inside."

When he got to the gate, he was dismayed to see how narrow it was. But determined, he pressed through the gate, only for his belly to get stuck! He spotted the king on the other side of the gate. "O good king!" he cried out. "Please help me bring this wine and bread and honey into your castle! Would it not make a meal fit for a king?"

But the king replied, "Never mind the food and drink, I have bread from the sky and living water and food that is sweeter than honey. Only come."

But the man would not be parted from his meal and with an effort squeezed back from the gate. Like the merchant, he spotted the wider road leading to the other side of the castle and decided to to go that way, believing the king would appreciate the meal he brought. As soon as he had traveled a little ways on the road, the road became rough and he soon grew famished. Thinking the king would not miss a few bites of the bread or a few sips of the wine or a few spoonfuls of honey, he nibbled as he went along. But his thirst could not be quenched and his hunger could not be satisfied, and no sooner had he stepped through the wider gate that he fell down dead from exhaustion, the empty wine bottle still in his hand.

Next in line was a little old lady with a hooked nose and large spectacles. She carried a stack of books containing all the knowledge in the world about history, science, philosophy, religion, mathematics and a plethora of other subjects. It was a wonder she could carry them at all, for she was a little old lady and the books were stacked five times taller than she was. She thought to herself, "With this vast collection of knowledge, I will surely be in the good graces of the king and be allowed to pass inside."

When she got to the gate, she was not concerned, for she thought, "I am a little old lady, I am sure I will fit with at least some of these books still in my hand and room to spare." She set down her stack of books, picked three books titled The Life and History of All Kings, The King's Castle and its Rooms, and her personal favorite, Wisdom of the World, which she thought the king would enjoy and would be most useful. But as she was passing through the gate, a sudden gust of wind blew, scattering the pages of her books everywhere along the road. Spotting the king on the other side of the gate, she pleaded "O good king! Please help me gather the pages of these books and bring them into your castle! Would not this knowledge make you even wiser and more powerful than you already are?"

But the king replied, "Never mind the books, I have words that are alive and living and knowledge you do not even know of. Only come."

But the little old lady would not be parted from her books, and as she was frantically gathering her papers, she spotted the wider road. "I will take that road to the other side of the castle, for surely all this knowledge will be useful to the king and he will thank me later for it." So she gathered her stack of books five times higher than she was and set off along the wider road. But as soon as she had traveled a little ways along the road, birds pecked out her eyes and stole her books in their claws, flying away with them. And all the knowledge she had read in those books over the years could not help her get any further than a few feet past the wide gate, and there she died, forever blind.

Next in line was a young man dressed in a sports jersey and baseball cap, with a large flat screen TV in his arms. No one else had a TV like this one, which came with a surround sound system, LED lighting, and wireless streaming. He thought it would be a good way to keep up with the shows, sports teams, and news he followed while in the castle. Maybe the king would even watch those with him. Or they could even watch the new movie, The King and His Son, on his TV. "The king would love to see that," he thought to himself. "With this modern TV, I will surely be in the good graces of the king and be allowed to pass inside."

When he reached the gate, he did not let the narrowness of the gate stop him, but immediately pressed a button that transformed his TV into a compact portable size. But even in its smaller form, the TV still got stuck in the frame of the gate. "O good king!" he cried out to the king on the other side of the gate. "Please help me bring this TV into your castle! Would it not bring so much happiness and entertainment to your home?"

But the king replied, "Never mind the TV, I have the source of joy in my castle and wonderful sights and creatures whose colors and brilliance would make your TV look dull. Only come."

But the young man would not be parted from his TV, and as he backed away from the gate he spotted the wider road. He had in mind to bring his TV through the wider gate, for he could not understand how anyone could possibly live without a TV. The king would thank him later. As soon as he had traveled a little ways along the road, the road became rough, and the TV grew heavier and heavier in his arms. When he finally reached the gate, he was exhausted. "It's time for a little entertainment I think, after all that work. Surely just one hour is merited." So he sat down and began to watch his favorite show. But soon one episode turned into another, and another, until he had finished the whole season, and when he was done with that there was that new movie that had come out just this past week, and then his favorite sports team was playing in the finals, and he continued to watch with his eyes glued to the screen so that eventually he fell over and died because in focusing on his TV he had forgotten to eat, to drink, and to breathe.

Next in line was a young couple. They walked up to the gate hand in hand, for they were so in love that they could not bear to be parted from one another. And in this love lay their hope. For they thought to themselves, "With the true love we have for each other, the king's heart will melt; we will surely be in the good graces of the king and be allowed to pass inside."

When they got to the gate, they tried to walk in, but because they were holding each other's hands they could not both fit through at the same time. "O good king!" they cried out. "Please help us bring each other into your castle! Would not our love fill your halls with beauty?"

The king replied, "Never mind the other, for I have love as deep as the oceans and as wide as the universe, and no one can separate you from that love. Only come yourself."

The man turned to the woman beside him and said, "After you," and the woman replied, "No after you." And the man replied to the woman, "No after you," and this went on and on for a good while, for neither one could bear to be parted from the other long enough to walk through the gate. Finally, the woman spotted the wider road and exclaimed, "Look! There is a wider road that leads to a wider gate, where we can both walk through. Let us go there!" To which the man agreed, and they set off along the wider road. But as soon as they had traveled a little ways along the road, the road became rough, and they began to quarrel in a way they never had before. They argued so much that by the time they reached the gate they hated each other rather than loved each other, so much so that in an effort to keep the other from going through the gate they ended up killing each other. Such was the tragic fate of the young couple.

There were many others lined up at the gate who tried to go in. A boy with a game controller, who could not fit it in and was electrocuted to death when the game console short-circuited in a storm. A girl with a device called a smartphone whose bright rays caused warts to grow all over face so that she could no longer breathe. A family wearing trendy mouse ears that could not fit through the gate, only for the ears to become real and attached to their real heads, such that a sudden loud shriek was too much for their poor heads and caused their brains to explode inside. A woman in a business suit with a briefcase who could not leave her work behind and worked herself to death. I do not have time to tell you about all of them. One by one they tried to pass through the narrow gate, and one by one they turned onto the wider road, and one by one they went to their doom.

But at the end of the line was a young man who came up to the gate empty handed. All the way along the road he had seen many people all carrying various gifts to the king, and he had thought to himself, "With all of these gifts coming his way, surely the king will not let me pass. I am not rich, I am not smart, and I am certainly not funny. I do not have a TV or a book or a phone. I have not fed a thousand hungry people or cured cancer or started a charity for orphan dogs. And I have no friends or family who can help me get into the castle." He had been so despondent in fact that he had sat down along the road and moped a good long while until everyone else had passed him by, which is why he was at the end of the line.

When he got to the gate, he trembled in awe of its pearly white glory and then fell to his knees. He put his head in his hands and wept.

"Why do you cry, my child?"

The boy looked up to see the king standing just inside the gate on the other side. "O good king!" he cried. "I have nothing to give you. I thought I would come here to at least get a glimpse of your castle before I go. That is the only reason I made it so far along the road. I will go and not bother you anymore." With that he tried to get up, but found that he was so weak he could not even pick himself up.

The king said to him, "Never you mind that. I have everything you need in overflowing abundance. Only come."

But the man replied, "O good king, I do not have the strength to even pick myself up. How can I come?"

"Take my hand. I will give you strength." So the man took the king's hand, and the king pulled him up. With shaky steps the man walked through the gate.

The king smiled. "Welcome home, my son. Come and share my happiness." With those words, the man found he was no longer tired, nor was he dressed in his ragged clothes, but rather fine clothes of white linen with purple and gold embroidery.

"H-how can this be?" The man stammered.

"The first will be last and the last will be first. Come," the king beckoned. And the man came to the king and had a room in the castle, and he lived happily ever after with the king.