Sermon 06/01/08 (Matthew 7:21-29)

“The House on the Hill”
Matthew 7:21-29
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 1 June, 2008
Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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 The very first weekend after I had moved to California I took a drive through the hills with my cousin John. Now, John is a geologist, and every time he would see one of those multimillion dollar houses precariously perched on the side of a hill, he would roll his eyes and grumble, knowing exactly what would happen when the next big earthquake hit. Sure, those houses have gorgeous views...but they’re a bad idea!

Apparently, unwise building locations are not limited to 21st century California:

“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, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell -- and great was its fall!”

In this morning’s scripture lesson, the “wise man” is said to build on the rock, whereas the “foolish man” builds on the sand. The explanation is that a house built on rock will stand strong in the midst of the worst storms, whereas the house built on sand will crumble when the first storm hits.

In Northern California, we didn’t know a great deal about big storms. Out there it was earthquakes. In Fargo, North Dakota there it was the floods we would get nearly every spring. Still, people would insist on building big, beautiful houses...right next to the river. The neighborhood was lovely...until the inevitable flood would come along and wash away half the houses. It has been a long time since Baltimore has been seriously damaged by a hurricane, but I’m sure some of you remember some pretty bad storms. I have yet to go out to the Maryland shore, but I’m betting there are a few houses built in foolish places.

Everywhere we have bad weather, and everywhere we have both wise and foolish places to build. In California, it was: So... “the wise man builds his house in a wide valley, where it will be less precarious when the next landslide or earthquake hits. 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 the side of a hill. The earthquakes came and the landslides came, and the house shook -- and great was its fall!”

In Fargo it was: So... “the wise man builds his house far from the river, where it will be less likely to be destroyed by flood. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house at the golf course next to the river. The snows melted and the rains came and the water rose, and the house was flooded-- and great was its flooding!”

In Maryland, the original context might work -- the seaside house built on rock rather than on sand, so that it can withstand the storms that blow up off the water. The point is, we can recontextualize Matthew’s metaphor to better fit our own circumstances, whatever they may be. I believe it is always important to do this if we are to understand the meaning of our scriptures. But now that we have re-versed it a little, do we really understand this scripture any better? This is one of those scriptures that people recognize when they hear it (“Oh, yeah, yeah, the one about the house on the rock and the house on the sand!”)... and most of us are aware that it essentially telling us, “Don’t be an idiot!” But because the metaphor of the two houses is such a strong one, we tend to ignore the rest of the scripture around it...the stuff that is really important. What is it that Matthew has told us is wise... aside from building your house on rock? And what is it that is foolish...aside from building your house on sand? Yes, yes, the sentence about the wise man starts out with: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise man who...”

But what are “these words of mine” referring to?! What are we actually supposed to be doing in order to be like the wise man?! Unfortunately, the few verses we have heard this morning contain only the closing words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and do not contain the meat of the sermon -- what we are actually supposed to be doing in order to be considered wise. So, let me give you just a snippet of that wisdom: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you; but when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret. Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. In everything do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

Sound familiar? Yes, these (and some other justice-minded instructions) are what this house on rock vs. house on sand business is all about. “Everyone who does unto others as they would have done unto them is like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. Everyone who sees the speck in his neighbor’s eye but does not notice the log in his own eye will be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.” These things are what Jesus considers wise or foolish!

This is one of those scriptures we like to pin on other people too -- “You foolish person! You’re like the guy who built his house on the sand!” ...So I remind you of Jesus’ instruction against judging our neighbors. When we pin this scripture on other people, we are merely, in the words of Matthew’s gospel, missing that “log in our own eye!”

The closing words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contain another piece that we tend to miss. We hear the part about following godly instructions, and we hopefully heed that part to the best of our human ability. But have you noticed the words about overzealous religiosity? “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’”

We all know people who are guilty of such hypocrisy, and we are hopefully aware that we do it too. We know people who go to church every Sunday and shout the name of God proudly whenever they have the chance...but then ignore the homeless person by the side of the road, do not even attempt to love their enemies, serve plenty more than two masters, and judge everyone from here to kingdom come...all the while proclaiming that godly justice is being done. Unfortunately, there have been plenty of “these kinds of people” in public office and in other positions of authority, with the ability to wreak tremendous havoc not only on individuals but on society at large. There have been egregious violations of human rights committed by those who will invoke the name of God at every step. And we need to stand up against the injustices -- without judgment of those committing such injustices -- yes, I know this is difficult, perhaps impossible.

If we, ourselves, are not to be hypocrites, we need to become aware of our own foolishness as well -- of the ways in which we, too, call ourselves faithful Christians but look the other way when others are in need. With all this talk of “houses on rock and sand” here, Jesus is essentially talking about sin...and sin is defined here as unjust action. Let us repent of our own sinfulness, of our own failure to love our enemies, by fighting for peace and justice throughout our world...by standing up against unjust actions...by reaching out to our neighbors “in secret,” but in big ways. And by praying for neighbor and enemy alike.

Now let us pray.