Open the Gate

Have we forgotten that the gate of righteousness is an invitation to surrender?

The main body of today’s psalm text begins with, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord” (v. 19).

The mind immediately goes to the massive, ornate and intimidating gates that have been erected by cities and nations throughout world history. Think of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Once a symbol of division during the Cold War, it’s now a symbol of unity. Or the Ishtar Gate in ancient Babylon, resplendent in glazed blue tiles and dedicated to the gods. And there’s the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on the western bank of the Mississippi River. Completed in 1965, this 630-foot-tall, stainless steel arch is the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. It serves as a symbolic “gateway to the West,” a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. Or La Puerta de Alcalá in Madrid, Spain, a neoclassical gate completed in 1778 that was one of five royal gates that...