A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, August 29, 2010
Matthew 7:24-27
Five years ago today Hurricane Katrina was unleashing its terrifying force on the southern Gulf Coast. The Category 5 storm clocked winds of 175 mph and whipped the oceans into a frenzy. Then the winds subsided and rains eased. Some folks thought they’d made it through all right. Hope returned….briefly.
The people of New Orleans realized their worst fears when the rising waters breached the levee system, pouring millions of gallons into the city. A series of storm walls collapsed – temporary walls that had been hastily built to replace older but more substantial levees. These storm walls were just two feet thick and were not designed to withstand a one-hundred year storm.
Nearly 2000 people died; 15 million were affected directly and less-directly; 275,000 homes were destroyed, and recovery costs have (so far) totaled $110 billion. The destruction was so great that even now, five years later, abandoned homes mark many streets. Tens of thousands of residents left and will never return… (http://www.hurricanekatrinarelief.com/faqs.html)
That tragedy is historic in its scope but it doesn’t stand alone. As the ancient Psalmist said – the mountains tremble and the waters foam as a rising number of earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis circle the globe. And in the past two weeks torrential rains in China and Pakistan have taken countless innocent lives.
The key word is “preparedness” as climatologists tell us the world is, indeed, groaning. We can’t stop the storms so we have to think ahead and be ready.
“Be careful how you build” said Jesus in the familiar parable of the two builders. Parenthetically, we remember Matthew is the most systematic and orderly of the Gospels. Each story and account is placed thoughtfully. Just before this parable, in chapters 5, 6, and beginning 7, Matthew collects Jesus’ wise instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. And just after this parable Matthew places accounts of six miracles – including four healings and Jesus stilling a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
So, this parable of the wise and foolish builders acts as a hinge between Jesus’ words and Jesus’ deeds – his saying and his doing. Jesus taught the crowds and his disciples saying: “…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. {27} The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!”
Be careful how you build. Pay attention to the foundation and footings. Jesus never mentioned the kind of materials or the skill of the builders. He simply pointed out that the foundation is everything. One built on rock and the other built on sand – and everything else played out from there.
Maybe Jesus was reminding his listeners of a real event in the local news. All across Israel are river beds that are dry through 95% of the year. They’re an easy place to build. But in the late winter and early spring a storm can gather in minutes and let loose with a cloud burst and flash flood. Anything in the path will be swept away.
What Jesus took for granted is always significant. In the parable of the two builders he assumed, without comment, that life will have storms that shake the very foundations. The Gospel of John quotes him: “in this world you will have troubles. But don’t be afraid, for I have overcome the world.” (16:33) Jesus never suggested we can prevent storms or stop the cycle of seasons. He said instead the supreme issue is whether we’re prepared for the inevitable.
So, he asks each of us, have you built on rock or on sand? Much of the time it won’t matter. We can withstand the daily and seasonal storms that swirl up regularly. We can endure the bumps and bruises. We’ve learned to roll with the punches, to shift a little this way or that – to compromise, make do, cover up.
So it was with the levees in New Orleans and the typical storm waters. But when the big storm forms, and the lightning and thunder erupt, and the winds howl, there’s no time to prepare for the hundred-year storm. All that we’ve fashioned is in danger.
I recall a dozen years ago as I watched the contractors added the features we hope we’ll never need: state of the art fire alarms, sprinklers, fire doors, and the like. God willing, none of them will never be needed; they’ll sit unnoticed and unused for generations.
But if there’s ever a fire we’ll be safer because of the careful planning – the life safety code that dictates exactly how prepared we have to be.
And every time there’s a high wind and I’m sitting in my study I pray to God the engineers put enough steel into the steeple when they built in 50 years ago!
Isn’t it tempting to build on shifting sands, to take the short cut and the low road, assuming it won’t catch up with us? Ask members of Congress and other elected officials. Ask the folks down the block. More importantly, let each of us ask ourselves. Have we built on rock or sand?
Think of the boy who learned from observing his dad that men don’t talk about feelings. There were times he thought that men aren’t supposed to have feelings. Think of a woman who learned as a child that she was not responsible for her own decisions. Instead, her parents always decided what was best and took care of her. She carries that worldview into adulthood believing she needs someone to take care of her, so she moves from relationship to relationship, afraid of independence and terrified to be alone. Then the rains come down and the floods come up and she doesn’t know what to do.
Or think of the lives that many have built on this shifting sand from childhood: if you’ll be very sincere and eat all your carrots, and say please and thank you, everything will work out for the best. Then the rains come down and the floods come up.
Why does anyone build on shifting sands? Because it’s easy to do, and it works well enough… up to a point. We can endure the small storms but can’t withstand the hurricanes.
Plato once wrote: “The unexamined life is a life not worth living.”
Have we examined our foundations? We won’t find any measure of lasting joy or security until we know we’re standing on solid rock. And that rock, said Jesus, is the truth of his teaching: faith in God who loves you; faith in God who came to us in Jesus as our savior and our friend. Any other foundation is like shifting sand.
Good looks, popularity, possessions, intelligence, pleasure, hard work, families, friends – we may try to build our lives on all sorts of foundations. None of them is secure enough. Jesus said our sure hope is to know his words, and to heed them – to know them, then to live them. When we call ourselves Jesus’ followers, we should be promising nothing less than to know the Biblical story, trust the biblical promise, and live the lessons that he taught.
And where might you begin, or begin again? Read Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7, and find out. This is the core of Jesus’ message:
– He teaches us the truly blessed are those whom the world casts out – the poor in spirit, the meek and hungry, the merciful and the peacemakers.
– He teaches us that we who follow him are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but if we lose our saltiness we should be thrown out.
– He teaches us that the laws of old – “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” – have been replaced with a new law – to love our neighbors as ourselves, yes; but also to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. (5:44)
– He teaches that anger is a sin because it’s committing murder in the heart. Lust is a sin because it’s committing adultery in the heart.
– And here he teaches that when we judge others we bring judgment on ourselves, commenting that we somehow can see a speck in our neighbor’s eye in spite of the log in our own eye!
These teachings are solid rock on which we can build our lives.
Then come hell or high water, we’ll still be standing through the storms of life.