Sermonette: Feb. 20, 2023

At the very end of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, he wraps up with a familiar image: two houses, two very different foundations. One is built on sand, the other built on rock.

Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

We humans like the quick, easy explanation: if you’re a Christian, you must have a foundation in rock. If you’re not, you have a sandy foundation. This helps us divide the world into black and white. Us versus them.

But I think the journey of faith isn’t quite so black and white. There are times in our lives where our foundation is strong: that even when bad things happen, we have a deep sense of calm and faith. Often the calm is unexplainable, not from ourselves. There are also times when the inevitable suffering in life leaves us with a weak foundation; worn out, tossed, uneasy, full of doubt, even going against what we know to be true.

So how do we live in this tension between weak and strong foundations? Both houses endure a similar existence. Both have wind and rain and storms that batter them. Knowing that suffering will come to our lives, and WILL come to the lives of those we love, we can be ready for both.

Sometimes, we’ll surprise ourselves, finding a peace which surpasses all understanding. We’ll be stalwart in our trust. We’ll refrain from gossip, love our neighbor as ourselves, and turn the other cheek. Other times, when our foundation is shaken, we mess up, our ego gets the better of us, and we compare our lives to others’ lives, we have a God who deeply understands humanity, and goes to all lengths to forgive without exception.