As children, many of you probably sang the catchy tune, with fun hand motions, of the wise man building his house on the rock and the foolish man on the sand. The song conjured in my mind a house built on a beach—a dumb thing to do. When I have read the text in Matthew or Luke I bring that childhood image with me and, frankly, give little attention to the short parable. Recently, I saw it differently, but before I get to that, another song.
One evening my wife, Lynn, and I started singing songs from our youth-group past; one led to another. I found myself signing:
Do you ever search your heart
as you watch the day depart
Is there something way down deep
you try to hide
If this day should be end
and eternity begin
when the book is open wide
would the Lord be satisfied?
Is he satisfied, is he satisfied
is he satisfied with me
have I done my best
have I stood the test
Is he satisfied with me?
Our daughter Julia, who was visiting, disbelieving, asks, “You sang that? What did that do to you?”
It is a song about not falling short, measuring up. What is the character of this God? What is the purpose of commands given by this God? Evaluative tool, a test. Julia was right, a bad song, toxic, but in another way not outlandish, normal. It displays a common view of the relationship between humans and God.
The parable of two housebuilders comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke. What happens if we combine the song from my childhood and the song from my youth and read the parable in light of those songs? The point of the parable becomes: don’t be dumb and ignore God’s commands. Watch out; you better measure up!
When referring to the commands in Jesus' sermon, many people refer to the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God. True, Jesus’ commands contrast the ways of the world. But if we only look at the upside-downness of the content of the commands, we have not done enough. Let us also recognize the radical contrast between the God giving the commands and the typical religious ways of thinking about commands and God.
Joel Green, commenting on the commands of the sermon on the plain, describes them as “Practices determined by the gracious character of God” (The Gospel of Luke, 280). A gracious God loves enemies, calls us to do the same; a gracious God is forgiving, calls us to do the same; a gracious God gives without expecting something in return, calls us to do the same.
The commands are gracious in another way. Because God loves us and loves others, God gives these upside-down kingdom commands. Jesus’ exhortations come out of love and longing for the flourishing of all.
Now let us turn to our parable of the two housebuilders in Luke 6. What is the key point? Jesus says, “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them” (6:47). The emphasis is on obeying, putting the words into practice. But perhaps the most important word in this verse is “me.” Who is calling for the actions? Jesus’ words come out of love and longing for the flourishing of all.
Now back to my childhood image, is this parable about a person doing a dumb thing, building on a beach? It helps a bit that Luke's version doesn't say "sand," but even more helpful is to bring the lens of loving upside-downness to the parable.
“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. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house” (Luke 6:48-49).
One dug deeply to get to rock. The second person is not doing the ridiculous thing. He does the lazy thing. The ground looks ok, solid enough. He hopes it will work.
Listening and not obeying may appear to be ok. One might think, “Why obey these difficult, strange commands? I’ll be ok.” Jesus says, "no, don’t be fooled. You are better off obeying.”
The one telling the parable loves us. Jesus’ words come out of love and longing for the flourishing of all.
Based on the song of my youth, what would motivate me to obey? Fear of falling short and not satisfying God’s standards. How about based on gracious ethics? Obey because floods will come, better to be part of a loving, caring community.
To say they are loving commands does not mean they are easy. Like the hard work of digging deep in the dirt, they are challenging but worth it.
Out of love, Jesus calls us to obey the commands of Luke 6.
From the security of God’s love, we are called to love those hard to love, even enemies –who might that be for you?
God has given us so much; we are called to share from what we have received, to give, to lend without expecting a return.
As forgiven people, we are called to forgive. Who might God be calling you to forgive?
God receives us with a warm embrace, does not look down on us judgmentally. Jesus calls us to do the same in this sermon. What are judgmental thoughts he might call you to let go of?
Jesus’ words come out of love and longing for the flourishing of all.