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 rains 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 

 

In yesterday's reading, the lectionary gave us the following (the final verses of St. Matthew's Gospel) for the Feast of the Ascension:  Then 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.  Today we resume reading in the Sermon on the Mount.  Today's reading continues from the verses given in Saturday's reading.

 

  "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!'"  These verses, together with verse 21, which precedes them, form a threefold testimony to Christ's deity.  He first calls Himself Lord, which is a reference to the divine name "Yahweh" of the Old Testament.  In verse 21, He declares, "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."  Thus, He speaks here of the will of My Father, which He fully knows and shares.  He speaks of Himself as judge, which reveals Him as God, for only God can execute judgment.  My study Bible adds that in that day 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 rains 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 here that hearing the gospel alone isn't enough, because salvation is not based on hearing alone, and neither on faith alone, but also on doing the things spoken by Christ (see James 2:24).  

 

Jesus says, "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 rains 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."  What we have is the emphasis on what it means to be faithful, to have faith,  We "hear His sayings" and "do them."  We live our faith.   We notice that He likens this to building our house on a rock, and we may connect this to another time Jesus uses the image of a rock. That is, when He gives St. Peter the name by which we know him.  Peter is the English form of Πετρος/Petros, meaning "rock" or "stone" in Greek.  We look at the time in specific terms when Jesus gave St. Peter this name, and we find it is upon his confession that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus first asked the disciples who people say that He is.  After they reply, giving the answers according to popular opinion, He asks them who they say that He is. Then we're told, "Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it' " (see Matthew 16:13-20).  When we consider what this rock is upon which Jesus will build His church, we must conclude that this rock is the rock of faith, that faith by which St. Peter understands -- and is illumined by God the Father according to Jesus' words -- that Jesus is the Christ.  By that we discern the deep connection between St. Peter, now called "Rock" by Jesus, and the rock upon which we build our home in real faith.  Jesus expresses here for us what faith does and is.  It is not about simply subscribing to a belief on intellectual terms, but living our faith.  Quite literally, He gives this to us; He speaks of whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them.  For real faith is about trust.  It is about placing our trust so deeply in Christ that we hear His sayings -- that is, the gospel He has preached in the whole of the Sermon on the Mount -- and we do them, we live them, we make them a part of our lives.  In this way, our faith is not only internal or only external, but it is both.  It is in the depth of the heart, and it is also what we do.  This kind of consistency from the inside to the outside defines what it is to be truly pure in the Christian sense.  Let us build our houses upon this rock, and truly live our faith in Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.