Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock

 

 And He spoke a parable to them:  "Can the blind lead the blind?  Will they not both fall into the ditch?  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.  For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  For every tree is known by its own fruit.  For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?  Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:  He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.  And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.  But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell.  And the ruin of that house was great."

 

- Luke 6:39-49 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus is giving what is known as the Sermon on the Plain (starting with Friday's reading).  The content is similar to that in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 5 - 7), as undoubtedly Jesus preached His gospel in many places.  On Saturday, we read that He taught, "But I say to you who hear:  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.  To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.  And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who asks of you.  And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.  And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.  But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners do the same.  And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.  But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.  Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.  Judge not, and you shall not be judged.  Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you:  good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." 

 And He spoke a parable to them:  "Can the blind lead the blind?  Will they not both fall into the ditch?  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.  For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  For every tree is known by its own fruit.  For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."  My study Bible notes here that Christ does not judge anyone (John 8:15, 12:47).  So, says St. Cyril of Alexandria in a commentary on this passage, "if the Teacher does not judge, neither must the disciple, for the disciple is guilty of worse sins than those for which he judges others."    There is clear encouragement toward discipleship here; that through discipline and practice, we are called to better things, even to change ourselves -- to make the tree "good" and therefore to produce good fruit.  He disparages hypocrisy, and says that we can and must do something about it.  If we can remove the plank from our own eye, we can remove from the heart that which does not bring out good.  And this He calls us to do.

 

 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?  Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:  He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.  And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.  But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell.  And the ruin of that house was great."  My study Bible comments that hearing the gospel alone is not enough, for salvation is based not on hearing alone, but also on doing the things spoken by Christ (James 2:24).  Again, as above, let us note the emphasis Jesus places on doing, exhorting us to put our effort into living the gospel.  Indeed, the warning here is that if we do not do so, we risk ruin.

In today's reading, Jesus exhorts us to realize our capacity for change, for transformation.  If we look back on His Sermon on the Plain, we see His plea for us to realize a type of freedom in our capacity to choose not just what we do, but how we will think, what our habits will be.  In Saturday's reading, He taught, "But I say to you who hear:  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you," and He goes on to give many examples of such behavior.  He encourages us to think beyond our immediate reflexes, not to simply imitate the world, but to have the capacity for choice, always ready to do the "better" thing.  This is a deep emphasis on freedom, the opposite of slavery.  In today's reading, He again emphasizes that we are not simply slaves to our impulses, to the ways that others have treated us, to the things we learn from the world.  He calls us, in fact, to be quite different from that, and to exercise the powers we have for choice, even if it is to change what we are inside.  There are a lot of people who question even the capacity for change, who will tell you they are just born a certain way, or who will make excuses even for abusive habits that harm others, for the inability to learn to deal with behavior that simply acts out something destructive, like anger.  But even if we were born into a life in which we have faced abuse, or the "language" of anger surrounded us as children, we still have choices -- and this is the depth of assertion that underlies Christ's teachings here.  We might be used to constant criticism, or we're surrounded by people (perhaps on social media) where constant criticism, and attacks upon those whom we don't like, are the fare of the day.  But what Jesus calls us out on is our hypocrisy.  Do you think someone else is abusive and hateful?  Try looking into your own mirror, finding the "plank" in your own eye that blinds you to yourself and your own behavior.  Even if criticism is helpful, it really isn't helpful unless it's from someone who has been there and done that, and and dealt with their own issues on the subject already.  He expects His disciples to struggle with their own impulses and toxic behaviors -- because that's really the one way you can best "see" to help others do the same.  Jesus teaches us, "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  For every tree is known by its own fruit."  What does that mean exactly, how shall we take it?  We're the "trees," and it's our job to think about the dead branches in us that produce nothing; that is, the bad habits that produce toxic or harmful effects, the dead ends that go nowhere and create nothing good -- of the kind of lasting value that He wants from us.  He tells us that "every tree is known by its own fruit," and that "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."   When He speaks of the heart, He speaks about the depths within us, the center of who we are.  He's asserting that we can thread out the impulses that cause harm, and in so doing we will build our own capacity for doing good -- especially in the things that we say to others.  It depends upon which is our treasure -- that out of that particular abundance our mouth will speak to others.  How many people today have this consciousness of self-discipline?  Jesus encourages compassion at all times -- even when criticism is seen as a good and instructive thing, it is only certain to be so if it's done with the compassion that comes from having gone through the same struggle, correcting our own bad habits that we can see in others.  To love one's enemies is to see them as human beings, even when they are causing harm to us.  This is a very tall order, and yet Christ confidently asserts that this is what He wants of us, clearly asserting that we are capable of such.  He returns to the emphasis on what we say to others, encouraging us to an inner change that will have an effect on what comes out of our mouths, what we produce with our lives.  Finally, there is the assertion that all of this is of such importance that it is something more than simply elective on our part.  Unless we build the houses of our lives upon the foundation of His teachings, He assures us of ruin.  For it is His way only that is certain, that will stand us in good stead when the storms of life come, that will help us to endure -- for we've built ourselves up upon a sure thing, and not an abstract fantasy.  Ultimately, everything in Christ's teachings leads us back to love -- and specifically the love He teaches, that comes from Him, that is rooted in God.  For this is the foundation for our capacity for compassion, for compassion for the changes we need to make, resting assured that we do so embraced not by condemnation, but by the love of God and God's compassion and mercy for us.  It is this that is the foundation for a sure life, the one thing that will remain when life can challenge everything else.  We need the flexibility to change in His way, to adapt to life by following where His love leads, and to let go of what doesn't work and what ends in futility.  He teaches that we have the freedom and the capacity to do so -- and that the one thing necessary is to rest within the trust of His love to guide us through.  Let the world hate; we are guided by a different spirit, and we take confidence that we can grow in His better way.  We have good things to build up, that the world needs as well as those whom we love and who depend upon us.  Let's not waste time on anything less, for we build our house on His rock of  faith.  Even when the world seems to be filled with the blind who lead the blind, we are still called to see by His light, and to live by His currency of love.  In his great discourse on love (1 Corinthians 13), St. Paul tells us, "Love never fails," and that it is the completeness of love which we await.  St. Paul writes, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  This is the rock upon which Christ asks us to build our lives.  

What do you want Me to do for you?

 

 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.  And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes.  And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

 

- Matthew 20:29-34 

 

 Yesterday we read that as Jesus now began going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify.  And the third day He will rise again."  Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.  And He said to her, "What do you wish?"  She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom."  But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father."  And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

  Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.  And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes.  And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.  My study Bible comments that these two blind men greet Jesus as Lord, which is the common title for God, and also Son of David, a title which is deeply associated with the Messiah.  Although Jesus already knows what we want before we ask, He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  There is also a spiritual interpretation to this miracle in patristic literature, in which the blind men symbolize future generations who would come to faith only by hearing, without the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29).  Those who tried to silence the blind men are persecutors and tyrants who, in every generation, try to silence the Church.  Nonetheless, under persecution, the Church all the more confesses Jesus Christ.

 

The blind men ask Jesus for one thing:   "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  This is in some sense a strange phrasing of their desire.  Jesus has asked what they want Him to do for them.  They don't say, "We want you to open our eyes."  What they say is the final result they want, the reality they seek for themselves -- to have eyes that have been "opened."  In the Greek, when Jesus asks, "What do you want Me to do for you?" that word for "do" is a specific word that actually means to create, to form, to make something.  It is ποιέω/poieo in the Greek, the root from which is derived "poem" and "poetry."  In Genesis 1:1, when the text tells us, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," the Septuagint text uses this word translated as "created."  John the Baptist uses this same word in Matthew 3:8, when he demands that the religious leaders "bear fruits worthy of repentance" (in this case we understand it as akin to the command to "produce" something).  So, taking this word with its associated meanings, we see that Jesus is essentially asking the men what they want Him to create for them; or rather, what they want Him to produce using His powers as Creator.   Their response makes sense of this:  they want an outcome in which their eyes have been opened.  In a sense, in order to make this response to Him in reply to His gracious offer, they have had to envision what they would truly desire as an outcome, what thing they really want in life, and this is truly what Jesus is asking them.  Perhaps we should think this way, in terms of creation, and outcome, when we stop to think what our deepest and dearest desires are.  What would we want God to create or make for us?  Do we desire our relationships to be better?  Would our dearest wish be to have talents that we don't have?  Or how about simply that our eyes also be opened?  That is, to have the ability to see what we don't see, to detect what we don't detect, to perceive what we don't perceive.   Thinking about it in these terms, this is more than a request just to see as everyone else sees.  It is a request to truly see, that one's eyes may be opened to what Christ might give us the capacity to see, what the Creator may make us capable of seeing if God should be the One who opens our eyes.  Think then, what that kind of creative power might enable us to see!  The fullness of this request, then, becomes a request for all of us.  For there are so many things that we don't really see, that we can't commonly perceive.  But there are ways in which the God can open our eyes to perceptions that aren't part of everyone's every day experience.  Think of the ways in which the Holy Spirit makes possible for the apostles to see what they didn't see even when Christ was still with them.  Think what it might mean to have our perceptive faculties made open by God, by Christ.  Then how far might we possibly see?  How deep might our perceptions become?  What things could we see that we are blind to right now?  This is, in fact, a way to think about the creative power of God, that gracious call extended to these men by the One who asks, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  Let us consider all the ways we might answer that question, and how the question itself opens up so much more than we ever might have considered.  Elsewhere, Jesus teaches, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind" (John 9:39).  Let us be the ones who seek what He wants us to see, which might be so much more than we know.

 

 

 

 

 

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

Christ the Good Shepherd, 425 AD, Oratory of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 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 (Matthew 5 - 7).  Yesterday we read that 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, 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!'"  These verses go together with the last one from yesterday's reading, above.  My study bible says this is a threefold testimony of the deity of Christ.  He first calls Himself Lord -- referring to the divine name YHWH of the Old Testament.  Then He speaks of the will of My Father, which He authoritatively knows and shares, and as divine Son.  Finally, He speaks of Himself as judge, in which He is revealed as God, because only God can execute true judgment.  In that day, it says, Christ refers to the final judgment.

"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 isn't enough.  Salvation is based not simply on hearing alone, but also on doing the things that Christ speaks about.  (See James 2:24.)

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.  Here is a phenomenon frequently noted in the Gospels, that Jesus doesn't speak like one of the scribes (that is, referring to the commentary of a famous rabbi, or citing some other authority).  Rather, He speaks of His own authority, which is so remarkable and unusual that it makes the people astonished.

Jesus says that to hear His sayings, and to fail to do them, is like being a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  By contrast, to hear His sayings, and then to do them, is like one who builds his house on a rock.  One house leads to a great disaster when the rains descend, and the floods come, and winds blow and beat on it.  The other home is on a solid foundation, and stands its ground, holding up to whatever hits it.  So, in this likeness, what's our home?  What does it mean that winds blow against it, and rain descends, and floods come?  Jesus uses these images in a sense that they are sure things:  that into each life these winds, and rain, and floods are going to hit.  He talks in such a way as to indicate that for each of us these things are going to come.  So important are His sayings, that He phrases them in likeness to the solid ground upon which we build our lives.  We're either going to throw away that opportunity, or to embrace it.  Either way, whichever choice we make, nothing can take away from the value of what He is offering.  In a sense, His analogy makes it clear that He's speaking of life or death:   we thrive one way, we utterly fail the other way.  And in that sense, everything is up to us.  He's offering what's real, bankable, valuable -- that upon which we can surely rely.  To refuse is to stake one's life on sand, on that which washes away with the winds and rain and floods.  Our home, then, is this solid place upon which we build who we are, the place of the heart at the center of personal existence.  He offers us solid ground on which to stake our very lives, the truth of who we are.  Otherwise we blow with every wind, a failure in a life built on some other kind of god to worship, a faith in something else, is one that will wash away and need rebuilding.  We'll need to seek a new foundation every time something strong enough blows through our lives and topples whatever we've built on a flimsy foundation.  But the things He teaches us are meant to last through all the changes, and calamities, and hard luck, and struggles of our lives.  We can render ourselves to Him, and with His help and guidance, make our way through to the other side of whatever comes, still on that solid ground, and not needing to look around for something new in which to place our faith.  Considering all of His preaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7), we may remember His teaching that one can't serve both God and mammon, we must make a choice.  Do we build our lives on faith in material things alone?  Is life all about how much money we have or how many homes we have?  Is then that really all we have -- something so easily lost?  What happens when those things fail?  Or when our health or even older age fails us in some physical sense of what we rely upon?  What then?  Jesus is saying that what He offers is something we will always be able to rely upon when struggles come, when the difficulties of life blow through wherever we are at.  Think of the struggles:  can we always rely upon friends?  Money?  Our health?  The things we own?  Even family members?  But Christ's sayings are there; and they are much more than sayings.  He teaches us that to do what He says is the bedrock we need.  It's not enough to hear.  So let us consider what that solid rock under our feet is all about.  We seek first God's kingdom, we seek to eliminate from our lives unnecessary worry and fear and anxiety, and we watch what it is we put our faith in first, before all things.  We work at ridding ourselves of habits and perspectives that don't serve such a goal, understanding that it's our job first to recognize our own flaws.  Above all we keep asking and seeking and knocking, through prayer and other faith practices, growing at this goal of faith and a life lived by doing what He says.  Let us continue to study what He asks of us, putting our trust in Him, the solid rock that remains after the floods, winds, and rains, for that is what lasts as the ground of our being, upon which we can build up our lives and entrust our being.

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.