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."  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 in our recent lectionary readings.  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!'"  This statement should be taken in conjunction with the final verse from yesterday's reading (above):  "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."   My study Bible comments that this is a threefold testimony to the deity of Jesus Christ:  He calls Himself Lord (referring to the divine name of "Yahweh" in the Old Testament); He speaks of the will of My Father, which He fully knows and shares; and finally, as judge, He's revealed as God, for only God can execute true judgment.  In that day is a reference to the final judgment.  We should also note that here, He's addressing religious leaders who have done works in His name, as those would be ones who prophesied, cast out demons, and performed many wonders.

"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.  My study Bible comments that hearing the gospel alone is not enough.  Salvation is not based on hearing alone, nor even on faith alone, but also on doing these sayings of Mine, the things spoken by Christ.   See James 2:24.

Jesus' analogy about building one's house on the rock is an apt one.  It gives us a vivid metaphor to keep in mind about how we structure our lives, and what is important for our own sense of security in life, our choices that we make.  These images of the rain descending and floods coming are those of forces of chaos and upheaval sweeping through our lives.  Winds blowing and beating on the house suggest the tempests that sweep through the world, giving rise to all kinds of movements and turns of history, changes such as both personal and political upheavals.  But the house built upon the rock is the house founded and situated upon Christ's teachings for us, which save us from chaos and upheavel, changes that shake up our lives, and keep us rooted and firmly on the solid ground where we need to place our faith.  The rain and flood imagery suggests to us tribulation and persecution, the things that uproot the good seed in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23).  The winds that sweep in and beat on the house can be doubts that shake us, the particular sway of ideologies in the world, or even the forces that urge us toward "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" (see again the parable of the Sower) that drive our lives, our concerns and care.  Life will always be offering to us ways to persuade us to abandon our faith, the sweep us off of our solid ground, to distract us from the path that Christ gives.  But Jesus teaches us about remaining in a firm place, finding ourselves where we need to be -- no matter how much external matters may threaten our peace of mind.  It's important to consider Christ's teachings as those which give us firm steps to take in life, and precautions against the things that cause chaos or lead us down a bad path.  Security comes from an internal sense of remaining within guidelines that give us truth, and not risky behaviors that look like shortcuts, but rather take us into a circuitous route from which we'll need to find our way back again to a road we can trust.  The life we want has to be one in which we take the perspective of the long haul, and not a temporary vision.   The only way to do this is by placing our faith in what is trustworthy and has stood the test of time, in the wisdom that Christ offers to us.  For unlike the winds that blow through our lives and beat on our houses occasionally, or the rains that come and threaten us with floods, Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  In the Revelation we read, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8).  When Jesus prophesies about the end times to the disciples, He declares, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matthew 24:35).  These everlasting words, that outlive everything else -- even heaven and earth -- are the rock upon which to build one's house, our lives.