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Respond To The Words Of Jesus

Jesus was an amazing preacher. He had to have been. We are still talking about what he said some 2000 years later. His Sermon on the Mount was a work of brilliance: a mark all preachers try and fail to hit. Yet Jesus did not preach simply to hear himself talk or give us something to ponder. He was not just a dispenser of wisdom. Jesus’s preaching is intended to demand action from us. We can’t be content to simply sit in the pews week after week, month after month, listening. We must respond to the words of Jesus in a very real way. As we read this Gospel let us pray for the wisdom to discern that response.

Hearers and Doers

“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7 : 21, 24-27

Scriptural Analysis

Jesus open this dialogue in what would have been an unprecedented way. He warns the disciples of the need to produce good fruit which would have been common. However, he pronounces that he himself will be the one who judges who enters the kingdom and who does not.

Jesus then closes with a parable drawing from the Sermon on the Mount. The parable is about two builders: one who is foolish and the other is wise. The parable stresses the importance of the words of Jesus: that these words must be the foundation of our lives. All of us will one day stand before him in judgment. On that day, Jesus will determine if we actually put his Gospel message into practice or not.

The background for the parable is the rainy season which occurs during the winter in Palestine. Storms blow with powerful winds and torrential rain quickly fills up dry ravines. This causes flash flooding. Such flooding causes erosion which is devastating to any building erected on sand. However, if the building is constructed on rock it will survive the flood waters. The wise builder builds on rock whereas the foolish one does not.

The Jewish person hearing this parable from Jesus would likely recall the words of Proverbs and see the parallels. The wise builder is the wise man who puts his trust in the Lord, “but the house of the righteous will stand.“ (Proverbs 12:7) The foolish man is the one who listens and hears the words of Jesus but does not act, “the house of the wicked will be destroyed.“ (Proverbs 14:11)

Daily Application

We hear the words of Jesus. Every time we attend Mass, the Gospel is read. Some of us may also read the Bible on our own. Perhaps we listen to Catholic radio or podcasts that cover the scriptures. While all of this is good and should be encouraged, our Gospel tells us that hearing the words of Jesus alone is not sufficient, “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man.” Jesus’s words require a response: they require action.

The American Christian has adopted largely a passive mindset. We go to Mass weekly (although those numbers are declining) and view it as almost a punch-the-clock kind of activity. We sit there, put in our time, and then go back out into the world and continue to live as if that last hour never happened, as if the scriptures were never opened. There is this idea that heaven is a participation trophy. Regardless of how little effort I put into following Jesus, even if I continue to move from mortal sin to mortal sin, I will still get to heaven if I simply punch the clock.

I will preface my comments with the caveat that ultimately, only God knows who will get to heaven and who will not. However, he has given us a blueprint, a map to follow with instructions. He has also warned us, in this very Gospel, that not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven. These two facts alone should be enough to tell us that simply punching the clock is likely not enough. The words of Jesus must impact us, they must cause a change and cause us to be different.

What does this mean? What does this actually look like? While the specifics are going to be different for each of us there will be some commonalities. First, we need to live the Beatitudes. Additionally, Jesus commands us to clothe the naked, visit the sick, and feed the hungry: those corporal works of mercy are critical. Our interior disposition needs to change to be more docile, obedient to God, and focused on him. This is trully the change that Jesus’s words should lead to, an interior change. All of our good works flow out of an interior that is oriented to the Lord. The more. we turn to him and away from sin, the more we are espoused to him and the deeper our relationship develops.

This requires us to spend time in prayer. Chrisiantiy is fundamentally about our relatioonship with God and we can’t develope a relatioonship without investing time. If you have not previiosuly had a prayer life, start small: five or ten minutes a day. Just like starting an exerise routine is hard and foreign, starting a prayer life is as well. It takes time, discipline, and commitment. Keep at it. With time it becomes more natural and easy eventually becoming something you are excited about and look forward to.

The words of Jesus are not meant to simply be heard: in one ear and out the other. These are the words that change lives, that open the door to eternal life. These words demand action, they demand that we change and conform to the teachings contained within. As we continue on our Advent journey lets us pray for the grace to listen and to respond to the words of Jesus.

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