Sunday Sermon: A wise man builds his house on a rock

The liturgy of our ninth Sunday in ordinary time is based on the following readings: Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32; Psalm 31; Romans 3:21-25, 28; Matthew 7:21-27. The main theme is on the foundation of our lives. We need to base our lives on a strong foundation which is dug deep into a rock instead of carelessly building on shifting sand. In the Gospel, Jesus compares someone who lives according to the principles laid down in his teaching as a wise man who builds his house on a foundation dug deep into a rock. According to his words, a human being flourishes only if he or she is connected to his or her Creator; who is God. Such a person whose principles of life are based on God’s commandments and teaching is able to withstand all the storms of life because his or her whole being is like a house on a rock-solid foundation. In our daily Christian life this foundation can be compared to a profound listening and meditating the teaching of Jesus allowing it to penetrate our moral core, so that we live it daily. Such a person will surely shape up an authentic life beyond the mere lip service. To those who take Christianity at a very superficial, Jesus warns: Not everyone who says, ´Lord, Lord,´ will enter the kingdom of heaven. In other words, he is telling us that far from being a theory, Christianity is a style of life whereby we attempt to live by the will of God in our day-to-day life. In the first reading, Moses develops the same theme in a very different way basing himself on the Old Testament mentality. The setting of Moses´ instruction is in Deuteronomy, which sees the Israelites poised to enter the Promised Land after the long trek through the desert. Unfortunately, Moses knows that he would not enter the Promised Land. He gives his people a piece of advice which would guide them in their new dealing with Yahweh. Moses first contemplated a very distinct pattern in the life history of his people where by God on one hand had always done his part as he had promised to defend his people. He had broken the power of Pharaoh and delivered them from slavery. He had helped them to cross the Red Sea. In the desert, he had provided them food and water through his miraculous interventions. On the part of the people, Moses finds that they had not been equally faithful to their God. All the miracles from God did not guarantee Israel’s permanent fidelity. And very often, this kind of behaviour brought disaster upon the people of Israel. In this way, Moses explained to his people the two very distinct patterns in their history: that of a blessing when they obeyed God or of a curse when they disobeyed. Today, as people of the New Testament, we cannot use the same language describing the negative outcome of rejecting God as a curse. But we do experience something of the kind in our post modern society where our age is increasingly being marked with secularism. As a result we see the creature disconnected from the Creator. Whenever this disconnection becomes permanent something happens to the individuals who are disconnected, the families, and different communities. That kind of willingness to break God’s laws with impunity may not end up in a curse as it was thought of in the Old Testament. But surely that kind of impunity must carry its own consequences which are in-built in the subject’s life. In other words, it is increasingly becoming clear, from the panorama of broken people, and relationships, that man can not truly prosper if he or she lives as if God does not exist. The creature that plays the creator ends up like a fish out of water. That is why the contemporary man is warned in the Gospel; he must set his house’s foundation on a rock. Of course this requires digging deep; but it is a rewarding hard work. That building on the rock today in our daily experience has something to do with our daily prayer and meditation. This practice would surely give us a spiritual outlook that enables us to have a more solid adhesion to our God. In such a way we too may be counted among those who have built their house on the rock. “…The winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.” So says Jesus. Ends