It was decades ago but I remember it well. My family and I lived in Haiti long before violent gangs gridlocked the impoverished country.
Out on the main roads, sweating pedestrians, smoke-belching trucks, and colorful tap taps compete for space. It is noisy, smelly, and crowded. In rainy season, muddy ruts conceal how deep your wheels will sink if you risk driving through. In dry season, the dusty rocks pound suspensions and bounce passengers mercilessly. The high-speed roads are a risk to life and limb – they’re lawless. Along the way you see the carcasses of destroyed vehicles picked over by scavengers.
Out in the countryside and in the mountains, travel is delightful. As you walk along the paths, you encounter fellow travelers and the occasional beast of burden. You pass beneath the shade of coconut, banana, and flamboyant trees. Tiny yards and green pastures are bounded by dense rows of candelabra cactus, which neither livestock nor people dare challenge. Small patches of corn, millet, or rice offer hope for tomorrow. Laughing children rush out to catch a glimpse. Those small paths are quiet, friendly, and often the only way to your destination.
I wonder if the simple scenes along those paths are like those in Biblical times. The contrast between the main roads and the foot trails reminds me of something Jesus said. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).
To be honest, there’s a part of that verse that troubles me. Like Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.” Jesus’ words are clear and easy to understand: “few find it.” It is troubling because I want everyone to find it! The narrow way and gate are not hidden. Through them you find peace, beauty, and meaning. Only one way leads to the flourishing, eternal life God has prepared for you.
To speak plainly, Jesus’ figurative language is an invitation to the repentant life of faith in Him as Lord and Savior. The most obvious reason people refuse is that they dare to go their own way, the broad way. To step onto the path of peace with God, consider these words of Jesus: “Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:15).
Haiti has changed of late and is now under a travel advisory. But what has not changed is the way to new life, the way of faith in the Lord Jesus. Which way are you going?