Holy Wisdom Church
Today’s
Gospel serves as a conclusion of “The Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus went up the
mountain, symbolizing Mt. Sinai, where Moses was given the Law of God. The Mountain is the archetypal place of
ascent to God and divine revelation. Jesus’ teaching represents the ultimate
revelation between God and humankind.
Jesus, the new Moses, reaches out to all who are hungry and thirsty for
the living Word of God, of which Jesus is the personal source. Jesus does not do away with the Torah; on the
contrary, he says that not even the smallest letter will be lost. Jesus’
mission is to reveal the meaning of God’s revelation for his time and through
his Spirit to our times—to each and every one of us.
Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount
with the story of two people and the houses they have chosen to build. The
first person is like a house that has been built on a rock. Its foundation is strong and secure and can
withstand any assault. The second is
like a house built on sand. Its
foundation is weak and unstable and will eventually be destroyed by the
storm. The message is clear:
discipleship occurs in the everyday practices. To be a follower of Jesus means
that our behavior and actions—the manner in which we live out our daily lives—manifests
our inner life of faith. Doing the word
means taking the words to heart and allowing them to bear fruit. At a spiritual level, building a house on a
rock points to visible human activity.
Listening to God excludes an attitude of passivity, of contented
self-centeredness or even seeking one’s own inner peace without engaging in a generous
self-giving human response. Jesus’ words are for doing, to be incarnated in
ourselves. Jesus is called the Word
because God’s innermost Expression of himself is not just a thought but a
Person. So too, the words of Jesus want
to become flesh in us: in our souls, hearts, and lives.
By this parable Jesus means to shock
us into embodying what we hear. It is not enough to be “edified” by him or to
appeal to him. Faith is dynamic. That
is, it entails the total transformation of the disciple’s being. Christ
provides the foundation; we build our house upon it. In the parable, the two men build with the
same materials. But the all-important
difference is the choice of the ground.
The choice of the first man rests on his practical wisdom—the text in Greek
uses the word “phronimos,” which translates to “wise in a practical way.” He knew the difference between rock and sand
as foundations to penetrate his mind and influence his concrete choices and
actions. The other man is foolish—he
knows about the words of Christ, but
does not in fact become changed by them.
The one who builds on rock is called
“phronimos”: one who practices wisdom.
This is someone who lives the teaching of the Beatitudes, takes to heart
the prayer of the Our Father and prayer in the solitude of one’s soul, who practices
surrender to the living presence of God’s providence here and now, who prays
for one’s enemies, and many other practices taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
All are manifestations of doing the will of God in one’s daily life. These practices are stabilizing and cannot be
washed away by the storms of life: adversity, temptations, and persecutions.
None of us is exempt from these storms.
When Jesus completed the words of
this parable, the crowds were amazed. They were beginning to recognize their
own deepest identity: the “who” they really are, and that each of us really is—a
child of God, like Jesus and with a particular mission. They savor his words. The inner life of God and his will are being
revealed in the form of a friend speaking to friends from the heart.
Our Gospel ends with “As Jesus was
coming down from the mountain a leper approached him.” Jesus now begins to put
into practice the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount. Beginning with the poor
wounded marginalized leper, the Word now blossoms into life-giving care,
concern, and service to the poor, the outcasts, in short to suffering humanity.
Perhaps we can ask ourselves: How is
the Word of God touching me today? Was
there any passage that felt directed to me personally? The Sermon on the Mount is like a diamond
with many facets. Which facet lights up
in my mind? What practice do I need to attend to? Where in my life am I called
to expose what needs to come to light? Those areas that weaken my foundation in
Christ? Woundedness? Shame, guilt, failures, fragmentation? Is it a call to a certain path of
discipleship—to serving the outcast, the marginal, the poor? We need not travel
far to find these poor ones, for parts are within each of us that need to be
brought into the light of Christ and to listen to the Word beckoning us to new
life and to concern for those we encounter daily. And may I, may we, see in the
present moment how God is moving me toward to a renewed foundation in Christ
Jesus and in him, for new life to emerge especially at this time when many
leaders and guides seem to be crumbling.
Christ is our Rock.
I’d
like to end with a story from the early Christian monastic desert tradition:
A
young seeker comes to an Elder, saying, “Abba, I am confused. What practice
must I do to be pleasing to God?”
The
Elder responds:
“One
person dedicates himself to hospitality, and this is pleasing to God.
Another
serves the sick.
Still
a third weaves baskets, sells them, and gives what he can to the poor.
A
fourth dedicates his life to contemplation and prayer for the world.
All
of them are pleasing to God.
Listen
deeply into your own heart, and follow what attracts you; do it, and you will
be pleasing to God.”
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