Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

- Matthew 7:22-29

We have been reading through the Sermon on the Mount, which began in chapter 5 with the Beatitudes.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:  "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them.  Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"  Here, Jesus is proclaiming Himself Judge, a role that belongs only to God.  He makes it clear -- and this stands all the events of the Gospels in the true light in which we read them -- that doing wonders is not enough for entrance into this Kingdom.  What counts is the righteousness that He teaches -- the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.  This is the entire theme of the Sermon on the Mount.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."    We note that Jesus speaks of whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them . . .."   My study bible says that hearing the gospel alone is not enough; salvation isn't based on haring alone nor on faith alone, but also on doing the these sayings of Christ.  The emphasis on both hearing and doing is important. It confers a responsibility that comes with hearing.   Jesus' emphasis on the security of this rock gives us a sense of the confidence we can take in hearing and doing His teachings.  To hear and fail to do what He teaches is foolishly risk everything; this is clearly said in context of Judgment.  But the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven is also something we live, and which blesses us in daily life.  To fail to understand or recognize the quality of those blessings is also foolish.  They sustain us through the rain, floods, and winds of life.

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  This is something that we read in various places and contexts in the Gospels.  Jesus' authority comes of Himself and His identity, not in citing, for example, other famous rabbis, as do the scribes.  He has His own authority.

What can we say about confidence and assurance, which Jesus gives us in the image of the rock upon which we build our houses?  He is teaching us that we may have security in hearing and doing His teachings.  In a world that seems to be increasingly unstable, or filled with unpredictability, Jesus' words take on a deeper connection to our own needs for true security.   Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the  blessings of the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, enumerated for us in The Beatitudes.  These are inward treasures, the blessings of righteousness, and the type of spiritual fruit that He desires for His followers.  He seems to close here with a reminder that these are the things in which we can truly take confidence in our lives.  They are the things that see us through the difficulties and insecurities and uncertainties in life.  Many of His sayings in the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5 through 7 in Matthew's Gospel) teach us about prudence and wisdom, and the importance of discernment.   Many of the teachings involve an active love, a way of living that does not ridicule or belittle others, that does not return violence with vengeance, that refrains from an external focus and the manipulation of hypocrisy.  He emphasizes the inner core of what it means to be a truly and fully living human being, not a person who lives for appearance or the purely material.  (He will later compare the emptiness of religious hypocrites to whited sepulchres.)  It is the values that He teaches in which we can take true security, because they are what persist and endure even when the going is tough.  It is His values that we can trust in, because they are built not only on the authority of God who is love, but on the surety of that which is not shaken when threatened, and which transcends every trend.  We fall back on truth when challenged; we repent toward a better knowledge and understanding and practice of what He teaches when we fall down or stumble.  In Him we can trust, and what a difference that makes to the quality of life itself -- not only for us as individuals but also for our extended communities.