“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
but not do what I command?" Jesus asks in today’s gospel. He is addressing
people whose religious practice has no real foundations. He contrasts such
people with those who, after hearing the Lord’s words, put them into practice
in daily life. They are “like the man building a house” Jesus says, “who dug
deep and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst
against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.” He
goes on to contrast such a person with the superficially religious person “who
built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against
it, it collapsed a once and was completely destroyed.”
To build one's house without
foundations means building our lives on things that are unstable and fleeting,
things that cannot withstand the tests of time and the hazards of chance. What
are such things? Money, success, fame, and even health and prosperity. None of
those things are reliable or solid.
To build one's house on rock means to
base our lives on things that are solid, enduring, things that cannot be
carried away with Life’s storms. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus says later
in Matthew ’s gospel, “but my words
will not pass away.” (24:35) To build our house on rock means building our life
on God. Rock is one of the preferred biblical symbols for the God. “Trust in
the Lord forever,” we read in the prophet Isaiah, “for the Lord is an eternal rock.”
(26:4). The book Deuteronomy says the same: "He is the Rock; his deeds are
perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no
wrong; how just and upright he is." (32:4)
To build one's house on the rock
means, therefore, living in the Church and not remaining on the fringe, at a
distance, using the excuse that the Church is filled with hypocrisy, dishonesty.
and sin. Of course it is! The Church is made up of sinners like ourselves.
Today's gospel starts with what seems
a harsh message. For the first time Luke speaks about people who refer to Jesus
as their Lord. But what good is it to cry out, "Lord, Lord," Jesus
asks, when your works are not done for him but for your own glory? When we cry
out "Lord," it should mean that we belong to him at all times, and
not just as temporary acquaintances. When the Lord responds, “I never knew you;
depart from me, you evildoers,” (a harsh message indeed) Jesus is really
expressing his longing for people who are truly close to him in daily life.
Those who do things in his name to be seen and honored, yet refuse to be in daily
fellowship with him are fraudulent. Those who are deaf to the Word of God, who
do not act upon it, and whose lives are not built upon God will be swept away
when the storms of life descend.
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