This post wraps up the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus gave a conclusion that rocked the ancient world.
“24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus’s parable here is often misunderstood, used by the self righteous to condemn those to whom they want to feel superior, and quoted by preachers to encourage attendance. Yet none of that is Jesus’s intent. He never said the foolish example of a man is condemned to hell, merely that his “house” fell, “and great was the fall of it.”
So tell us, what the parable means, smarty-pants. Alright, I’ll tell it like I received it. The word in Greek here rendered heareth means to listen intently, to understand. So Jesus isn’t talking about people who hear slogans spouted about salvation. Jesus is talking about people who listen to what He said with attention and understood what He meant. The house He refers to in the parable is the life on Earth of the listener. If you listen to what He told us in the sermons that He preached, and you carry out the commands and do the works Jesus put before you, then you are building your life on the foundation of rock. If you listen intently to His words, and you understand what He means, but you don’t do any of it, you are foolish and your life will be in ruin.
I doubt that Jesus was measuring life the way we often do, by the balance of the bank account. The structure of one’s life is far more than material wealth. The actual structure of your life is the relationships you build every day with all those around you. If you build those relationships on the teachings of Jesus Christ, you are building them strong and lasting, able to withstand the storms of this life. But if you know what Jesus taught about how to treat other people, with love, and you do not do it, you are building all your relationships on sand, and the storms of life will wash them away.
The concept is easy to express, yet difficult to practice. Frustration, irritation and worry tend to grind away our patience. If that patience is a veneer covering egoistic selfishness, the relationships have no glue to hold them together. But if it is a patina of varnish covering love, the relationships are strengthened by the abrasion because the reality of your heart is revealed.
The reflexive human response since the fall of man has been to lash out whenever we are abraded by these things. But the response of love is patience and concern. Proverbs 27:17 says that we rub against each other to hone our faces. In ancient times the concept of face was more of the persona you displayed toward others than the visage you see in a mirror. All these abrasions make us better at relationships.
The last two verses are repeated whenever Jesus gave a public speech. Jesus taught like the Lawgiver and not the lawyer. He never quoted other authorities, His own authority is greater. This amazed the people. They had never seen the like.
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