And Jesus makes clear that hearing and following any other authority than that of Christ’s is foolish indeed. That authority is strong like a rock, not a shifting or uneven or fleeting authority and it will be on that rock that the church itself will be built. This would have been an unveiling of a newer view of who Jesus was as holding the authority of God, and happened when he was still quite early in his ministry. And once you can know Christ, then you are compelled to follow Christ. The parable shapes a brief yet powerful image of God’s will for God’s people, embedding into that imagery the authoritative nature of God and therefore of Jesus Christ. In that famous selection, the door is cracked and a peek at Jesus’s authority of God is visible with close study. Matthew’s version of this parable appears in the text immediately following the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus is teaching about the way of life necessary to be a follower of Christ. Christ’s divine authority would be necessary for the followers to understand as they joined in ministry with Jesus and by doing so, entered unfamiliar territory peppered with unfettered criticism and even looming danger. The evangelists in both gospels write to give authority to Jesus early in his ministry, after he spent time in the desert and gathered his earliest disciples. That we have these two parables recorded by the evangelists in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke helps to clarify the parable’s meaning as conveyed through their distinct styles. Jesus used parables as teaching tools for his Jewish followers who were trying to understand a new and somewhat confusing way of understanding who Jesus was and what it would mean to be a follower and disciple of Christ. When a parable appears in more than one gospel text, it can be intended as a significant and important message for the followers of Christ. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.” But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-and great was its fall!” 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. 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. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. (Originally posted on the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas Blog March 16, 2018)
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