The Gospel - Matthew 7:21-27
Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith
Laying the Block
It’s a shame we couldn’t read
everything that leads up to today’s lesson. But if we did, it would include the entirety of the Sermon on the
Mount. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are the longest continuous monologue of Jesus in
the entire New Testament.
These last few verses are by no means a summary but they certainly offer insight about how important Jesus thinks his polemic is. As usual, he speaks in metaphors that make us think, and ask a very important question; “What kind of person am I?”
C.S. Lewis once wrote that when we lose our tempers, we are tempted to excuse ourselves by saying, “I’m sorry about that, but I was really upset, and that situation just made me angry all of a sudden.” However, says Lewis, the truth is probably a bit different. For most folks, the situation did not suddenly make us an angry person so much as it became the occasion that revealed what an angry person we generally are.
The gospel lesson read comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the longest of Jesus’ teaching monologues. It is 3 entire chapters in length and it is a wonderful blueprint of what it means to be a disciple. It begins with:
- Blessed are the poor in Spirit,
- You Are the Salt of the earth,
- You are the light of the world,
- Let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your
“No” be “No”,
- If someone strikes you on the right
cheek turn to him the other also,
- Love your enemies,
- When you give, do not let your left
hand know what your right hand is doing,
- Our Father, which art in heaven…
- Where your treasure is there your
heart will be also,
- You cannot serve God and
mammon
- Seek first the kingdom of God and
all these things will be given to you
- Do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself,
- Do not judge, or you too will be
judged,
- Do not throw your pearls before
swine,
- Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find…
- Do to others what you would have
them do to you,
- Enter the narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
- Wolves in sheep’s clothing,
- By their fruit you will recognize them.
Then, at the conclusion of his polemic, Jesus says something most interesting. He says, that basically there are two kinds of people who claim to be followers, the wise and the foolish. From the outside, it will be difficult to tell the two apart. Both know about Jesus, have heard his words, and know the instructions. Both appear to have built a pretty sturdy house of faith for themselves.
But, and here is where the metaphor gets personal, the storms come. Though Jesus does not specify the nature of the storms, he doesn’t have to, we all have a pretty good idea what those are. Take your pick, either the ones we are living through now, or those we vividly remember from days past, there is no shortage. Death, disease, divorce, desertion, fiscal demise, business turnarounds, children being irresponsible or dangerous, the list has no end. The storms come and will never stop and there will be times when everything seems difficult including maintenance of our faith in Jesus.
And notice, the storms are indiscriminate; they come to the wise and the foolish. Disciples are not promised we will be spared. Anytime all hell breaks loose and we are inclined to say, “Why me?” or “What have I done to deserve this?” There is only one answer, and it is a question; “Why not you?” And notice, that the storms are not what make believers either wise or foolish. The storms simply reveal who is wise and who is foolish. One group makes it through the battering and the other falls apart under the pressure.
A person’s character is like a house. Every thought is a 2x4 in the framing, every habit a beam holding up under great loads. Of the two builders, one is thoughtful and deliberate, and plans the house with an eye to the future. The other is less thoughtful and begins causally to build the easiest and maybe the cheapest way. (Maybe the lowest bidder).
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed
thousands of homes in Homestead, Florida. Yet in an area where the wreckage
looked like a war zone, one house remained standing, still firmly anchored to
its foundation.
When a reporter asked the homeowner why his house had not been blown away, he
replied, "I built this house myself. I also built it according to the
Florida state building code. When the code called for 2" x 6" roof
trusses, I used 2" x 6" roof trusses. I was told that a house built
according to code could withstand a hurricane-- and it did."
Beneath the surface wisdom of the world, Christ is rock. He is the code. The thoughtful person follows the code, digs into this truth and builds. The foundation is first, it is not seen, but nothing is more important.
As Jane and I were building a house
in Charlottesville, our builder, one day, showed us something he did not
like. After the block for the foundation and the basement was laid and
the mortar had set up for two weeks the dirt backfill was moved against the new
wall. In the course of the backfill, a hairline crack appeared in a
mortar joint. It’s a very common thing to happen, but our builder did not
like it.
And so at his own expense, he called in a truck load of cement on a pump truck and proceeded to fill the entirety of the foundation walls with concrete, every hole, every block from the ground up, in places almost 10 feet. What once was a block wall had effectively become solid rock. He would have it no other way, even though no one would ever see it, no one would ever know. The foundation was the key to everything else.
That’s the difference between the
wise and the foolish. The fool would see the crack and let it go.
The wise person sees the crack and fills the wall.
Edwin Markham has written an
appropriate little story called the Builder, that most of us have probably heard
at one time of another. A certain rich man wanted to help someone. He saw the
squalor in which a certain poor carpenter lived with his large family. The rich
man sent for the carpenter and placed in his hands the blueprint for a nice
home. He ordered that the house be made beautifully and sturdy, and that the
best materials be used, regardless of the price. He further explained that he
was going on an extended trip and wanted the house completed when he
returned.
Seeing the chance to make a huge profit, the carpenter skimped on materials,
hired inexperienced workers at low wages, and covered mistakes with paint. When
the rich man returned the carpenter handed him the keys to the house and told
him that his instructions had been carried out to the letter. Good, replied the
rich man as he returned the keys to him. For the house that you have been
building is yours. You and your family are to live in it. In the years that
followed, concluded Markham, the builder often regretted that he had cheated
himself.
The wise person hears Jesus’ words, listens to the Sermon on the Mount and makes a great effort to put them into practice. The fool hears, knows, and understands but goes about his business, and forgets them all. It’s like having a raging infection, going to the doctor and receiving a prescription for antibiotics, going to the pharmacy having the prescription filled, taking the medicine home, putting it in the cabinet, never taking any and wondering why in the world the infection won’t go away?
Not everyone who says, “Lord,
Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven”, Jesus says. Some may say this
has to do with life after death, and indeed it may. But it also has to do
with life before death. Entering in
and living in the kingdom of heaven is now and understood the more we follow
and apply the Sermon on the Mount building code. We all know the little
sayings. “Put your money where your
mouth is”, “Walk like you talk”, “Put up or shut up”.
The Greek word for stage actors is
“hypocritus” from which comes the word hypocrite. Pretending to be something we are not. A strong house only pretends to be strong until the storm
comes. The strong house stands.
In the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.