A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew 7:22-29
22 “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’
24 “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!”
28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.
Meditation
The Sermon on the Mount does not end the way it begins. Jesus starts with a blessing (Matt. 5:1-2) and ends with a warning (Matt. 7:24-27). This warning is tethered to the power of Jesus’ words. What Jesus has spoken in the Sermon on the Mount are words of life that lead us into the kingdom of God, and to heed them is akin to building a house on the rock. To hear what Jesus says and to do what his words say is wisdom (v. 24); to hear his words and not do them is the most disastrous form of foolishness. It is a house built on sand when a storm is on the horizon. When the storms of judgment come, only that which is built on Christ can truly stand.
Such a close to the Sermon on the Mount may seem callous given all the reversals and blessings to the downtrodden in the Beatitudes. Warning, however, can be a means of blessing. This warning emphasizes the unique importance of Jesus’ words. Will you take his teaching seriously? It is not enough to find his words to be a source of spiritual inspiration or even worthy of deep study and memorization. Jesus insists that we do his words and so build our lives in faithful allegiance to him. Faith is more than the assent of the mind, it is demonstrated in the full meaning of hearing: hearing and doing (Ezk. 33:31), not perfectly, but truly.
In the warning, there is a blessing, for many of us can look and see that our lives have been marked by trials and pain, and yet, we still seek to build our lives on the rock that is Christ. How many of us have already seen our house of sand crumble and have come to the gospel word of Christ that cuts and heals at the same time? Despite our human preoccupation with self-sourced words of wisdom, the word of Christ leads us from the sand to the rock so that we, despite ourselves, may, in the end, be blessed.