The Narrow Gate: A Way of Life That Doesn't Follow the Crowd

The narrow gate - a way of life that doesn't follow the crowd. It has been pointed out that we Japanese tend to be easily influenced by the crowd, believing in the tendency to "follow the crowd" and "go with the flow." Isn't the saying "It's not scary to cross the red light if everyone does it together" a typical example of this?

On the other hand, the Lord Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate." While we may sometimes criticize ourselves, we want to go through the narrow gate and follow the narrow path that the Lord desires in each case, if that is His will.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there are that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

Narrow Gate

Sen Genshitsu, the late head of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony, continued to advocate for peace through the tea ceremony, despite his feelings of remorse as a "survivor of a suicide attack." When he was a student soldier, his father showed him the famous sword that Sen no Rikyu, the founder of the Senke school of tea ceremony, is said to have used when he committed seppuku (hara-kiri) in grief, and he received a silent message from him to cherish life.

In his book, Sen Genshitsu mentions the "nijiriguchi" entrance to tea rooms and states the following: At tea ceremonies, everyone is equal, regardless of whether they are samurai or commoners. The entrance to a tea room is called a "nijiriguchi," and is narrow and low so that warriors could remove their swords. There is a theory that Sen no Rikyu came up with the idea for this entrance from the passage in the Bible that I read at the beginning: "Enter through the narrow gate." Perhaps it is in this that Sen Genshitsu saw the connection between tea ceremony and peace.

Narrow Gate

At the same time, I (the author) think that during the war, many people were uncritically swept along by the flow, following the crowd and following the trend. In other words, they entered through the wide gate and followed the broad road. I may have done the same.

However, the Lord Jesus says, "Enter through the narrow gate." While we may criticize ourselves at times, we want to go through the narrow gate and walk the narrow path that the Lord desires in each case, if that is His will. For it is there that the Lord will accompany us!

Incidentally, one Christian I respect, former diplomat Chiune Sugihara, while stationed in Lithuania on the eve of the war, unilaterally issued visas to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany who had come seeking visas to Japan, defying orders from the Japanese government and saving the lives of approximately 6,000 people. This act was literally life-threatening at the time, and it was the very definition of a way of life that resists the sway of the masses. Perhaps Christians are sometimes called upon to go through the "narrow gate" in this way.

To all of you who have read this to the end, may the Lord God bless and give you peace in abundance!

Ochanomizu Church of Christ

Yoshiya Noguchi