This week I have been considering a passage in Matthew’s gospel that follows the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus offers a series of four scenes which accent the importance of a real-world response to what has been heard in the Sermon – and then warns of the consequences of failing to respond. This post addresses the fourth of the scenes: Two House Builders – Hearing and Doing.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.s But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” (Mt 7:24-27)

This parable possesses a clear “make or break” choice: to hear and ignore or to hear and integrate the words into the core of one’s being and life. And we noted previously, the key to this choice are Jesus’ words.  Unlike the image of the two roads, there is no clear line between insiders and outsiders.  Both people of the parable have heard Jesus’ teaching – in other words a pretty typical church setting (cf. 13:24-30): not all who hear are equally ready to respond.  Yet the failure to respond is to risk total collapse.

The parable is straightforward in a region where flash floods can surge down a dry wadi with devastating effects.  The parable, while it mentions building materials, is not about the materials, but the foundation (cf. 1 Cor 3:10-15 and Is 28:15-19).  The parable is the contrast between the “wise” and the “foolish.”  And this does not refer to intellect in this context, but the insights and conclusions one has reached: they have heard in Jesus’ words the revelation of the Father’s will – but will they act upon them?  As Dietrich Bonheoffer so eloquently wrote – there is no cheap grace.