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

 

 "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." 

 

- Matthew 7:22-27 

 

Yesterday we read about Christ's Ascension, as in the West it was the celebration the Feast of our Lord's Ascension (next Thursday for the Eastern Churches), which takes place forty days after Christ's Resurrection (Easter or Pascha).  At that time the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Amen.

 

  "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!'"  In today's reading, we pick up where we left off in Saturday's reading (the interim readings were preparation and celebration of the Feast of our Lord's Ascension).   We recall that we had been reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7), and today we are given Christ's closing words to that Sermon.  Here, my study Bible comments that Jesus testifies to His own deity:  He calls Himself Lord, which refers to the divine name "Yahweh" of the Old Testament.   His words indicate His authority as judge, and only God can execute true judgment.  In that day refers to the final judgment.  In the verse just previous to these, He taught, "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."  To speak of the will of My Father also affirms His deity, as He fully knows and shares the Father's will.  

"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." My study Bible comments that hearing the gospel alone is not enough, for salvation is based not on hearing alone, nor on faith alone, but also on doing the things spoken of by Christ in "these sayings of Mine" (see James 2:24).  

Jesus contrasts "whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them" to "everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them."  The first has the security of a wise person who builds his house on a rock, a solid foundation that does not get shaken by storms, floods, winds, and other natural disasters.  The second is like one who is foolish, and builds a home on sands that shift with rain and flood and wind.  I once found myself in the midst of a very serious earthquake, and I can testify to what happens to homes built on landfill that mostly turned to sand in the shifting, shaking terrain along a coastline.  Jesus' images, as usual, are quite apt, even for modern construction techniques in a known earthquake zone.  Ultimately, what Jesus is saying is borne out throughout the course of our lives.  We might think that one wrong decision or another from time to time won't have much effect.  But decision-making, our patterns of thinking, are built over time.  We tend not necessarily to simply make a bad decision every once in a while, but rather build our lives on patterns.  We go down a road of a way of thinking and choosing, and we don't just stand still, or go backwards and forwards.  We tend to build upon whatever it is we build upon.  We rely on assumptions or decisions of the past to set the pattern, until something prompts us to reconsider, and to turn that thinking around.  This is why Jesus' teachings and sayings are so important, and so profound.  If we are vigilant, and if we recall His words and teachings, we can build our lives on something solid, something -- if one will pardon an oft-used expression -- that civilization, or what we understand of it, is based on.  If we have faith in having compassion for one another, if we have faith and are willing to live that faith in terms of our capacity for building something honestly in our lives, trying to establish righteous relations, then we will find ourselves capable of building up a pattern that leads to a life that gives us what is desirable:  staying away from bad habits, or from taking shortcuts in terms of how we treat others, from not caring about lies or insults in our ways of dealing with others.  Our own integrity becomes essential to us, and a resonance within which we can serve God, a highest good.  We will find that this forms a basis for good and safe choices in terms of what we build with our lives, how we conduct ourselves.  Most of all, I would say that Jesus teachings on prayer, almsgiving, and fasting -- about how God who sees in secret and is in the secret place will reward us openly (see this reading) -- are grounds for eventual outcomes which we can look upon with respect in our lives.  Living His way produces results that we can look back on and describe as things we feel good about, midst whatever tribulation and difficulties we might have through no fault of our own, or even midst our own mistakes we'll inevitably make.  But in Jesus' viewpoint, even those mistakes and even the tribulations become occasions for God's grace, for a learning curve, for prayer and mercy (see, for example, John 9:3; or the healing of one who was possessed by a Legion of demons  and is then sent out as a bearer of good news (Luke 8:38-39).  To hear these sayings and do them is truly to build a good life, despite the problems in our world and the difficulties that may befall us, for this is the way of Christ, and with God we know that all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  Christ gives us His wisdom; it is the foolish who do not seek to follow it.