SERMON WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS SERMON SERIES: On the Mount Matthew 5:1-2a, 7:24-29 (CEV) Sunday, March 16, 2014 A strong young man at a construction site was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He made a special case of making fun of Morris, an older workman. After several minutes, Morris had enough. Why don t you put your money where your mouth is? he said. I will bet a week s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that outbuilding that you won t be able to wheel back. You re on, old man, the braggart replied. It s a bet! Let s see what you got. Morris reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, All right. Get in. In our scripture passage for this morning Jesus tells a parable about two men. Like the two construction workers one was wise and the other was foolish. Other than that they shared much in common: they were both skilled carpenters, they both built great homes, and both of their homes were inundated by the same horrific storm; the only difference between the two of them was that one being wise built his home on solid rock while the other being foolish built his home on the sand. The New Interpreter s Bible Commentary says of the two: Although both builders seem to be getting along well in the present, only the one who has built with the coming storm in mind is secure. The difference between the wise and the foolish builders is not a matter of intellect, but one of insight into the eschatological situation i.e., whether they are willing to hear in Jesus words the revelation of God s will, and to act on them. Interpreters should not decode the parable as though it were pure allegory; one should not ask what the rock, house, rain, wind, and flood stand for. Rather, the crucial picture is called to mind, showing the crucial difference between doing and not doing the will of God. 1 P a g e
The parable of the two builders cannot be read by itself for it does not stand alone. Matthew s gospel places the parable at the very end of Jesus teachings from the mount. The teachings, or as Augustine called them five centuries later: The Sermon on the Mount began with Matthew s 5 th chapter and continues through to the 7th chapter. Adam Hamilton says of these teachings: The purpose of Jesus teaching was to help us understand the Kingdom of God. God s reign is a possibility that exists for each person who chooses to follow in the way of Jesus. Disciples play by the rules of God s reign even while the powers of the world follow a different set of rules. Being in harmony with God can lead us into conflict with the world. We are simply called to live in light of God s promise, to allow the Kingdom to reign in our own lives, and to let God take care of the rest. Today we are standing in the footsteps of Jesus upon the mount from which he taught the crowds. I myself have stood on these mild sloping meadows of grass that cascade their way down to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It s a beautiful location a perfect spot for preaching a sermon. But according to Matthew s gospel it wasn t the beauty of the sloping meadows that caught the crowd s attention; it was the authority from which Christ taught that captivated them. He taught them, records Matthew, like someone with authority, and not like their teachers of the Law of Moses. Adam Hamilton suggests that this image of Jesus going up a mountain to teach (even though it really is just a sloping hill) is intended by Matthew to remind the reader of Moses who ascended Mt. Sinai in order to receive the Ten Commandments from God. Jesus went up on the mountain, writes Hamilton, and there he delivered the new law. Jesus is pictured as the new Moses giving the new law, not merely for the nation of Israel but for the kingdom of God. In Matthew 5:3 Jesus begins the new law with these words: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. These words and the seven other similar teachings are known to us as The Beatitudes. Some biblical scholars have called them the Great Reversal because they turn our world upside down. Like a snow globe that has been turned upside down and shaken, the Beatitudes are meant to shake up everything we hold 2 P a g e
dear about this world and, as the snow begins to resettle, deliver to us a new reality about the kingdom that is coming into being. Following the Beatitudes Jesus lays out the mission of God s people in this new world order: we are to be the salt of the earth and light to the world! In other words, just as salt acts as an agent of taste so must we act as agents for the kingdom of God and just as light serves to help those lost in the darkness so must our lives serve as a pathway to the kingdom of God. But the Sermon of the Mount does not end there: in Matthew 5:17-48 Jesus sets a higher standard for the Law passed down to us from Moses. You have heard that it was said You shall not murder, Jesus teaches, but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. You have heard it said an eye for an eye, says Jesus, but I tell you to turn the other cheek. You have heard it said to love you neighbor and hate your enemy, says Jesus, but I am telling you to love your enemy as well and pray for those who persecute you. In the 6 th chapter of Matthew s Gospel Jesus shifts his instructions to how one gives and how one prays. Even though all gifts and prayers are good, says Jesus, it s what motivates us that truly matters. The Message edition of the Bible translates it this way: Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don t make a performance out of it When you give do it quietly and unobtrusively and when you pray do it simply and honestly. In chapter 7 Jesus, in presenting his final instructions from the Mount, tells us how to both live among others and reach the kingdom: Don t judge, so that you won t be judged. Treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you. The gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it. 3 P a g e
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you dressed like sheep, but inside they are vicious wolves. You will know them by their fruit. Not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord, will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Today as we have lingered in the footsteps of Jesus on the sloping meadows of the Mount we have heard him teaching us much. Upon further reflection I, like many in the crowd that day, find myself mesmerized by the wisdom of this man. I too am struck with awe and surprised with the authority from which he spoke. I can t help but think of the wise old man who once said of himself: I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: 'Lord, give me the energy to change the world.' As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: 'Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.' Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: 'Lord, give me the grace to change myself.' If I had prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life. Today, you and I have been granted the opportunity to do it over again right from the start. God, through Christ, has given us every grace we need to change ourselves. The challenge however is, will we? Among the many things Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is the absolute need to build our faith on a solid foundation. He offers us a simple yet powerful illustration of two home builders to drive home His point: Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain 4 P a g e
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. Two men. Two houses. One founded on rock. The other built on sand. Both buffeted by wind and pelted with rain. As you stand there on the mountainside with Jesus what will you do? As your gaze wonders down the green sloping meadows to the Sea of Galilee what is that you are thinking? You and I are standing in his footsteps today: Do you know which foundation you will build upon? 5 P a g e