Construction

2nd Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 4

Matthew 7: 21-29

Romans 3:22-28

"Construction"

21 ¶ "Not every one who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

23 And then will I declare to them, ’I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’

24 "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;

25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

26 And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;

27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,

29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. RSV

Romans 3

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;

23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins;

26 it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith.

28 For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. RSV

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus who is the firm foundation. Amen

I really enjoy watching the Discovery Channel or the History Channel on television. I enjoy watching the programs Modern Marvels, or Big Machines. They show being built tall buildings or watching bridges or houses being built.

They show the building of these structures from the beginning to the end. At the beginning they show the foundation of the building. Depending on how tall the building will be, they show how complicated the foundation needs to be. If it is a tall building, they show how pillars or cement is put deep into the ground for the building to rest upon.

With all the buildings, the narrator show how important the foundation of a building is. They also show some buildings that did not have a firm foundation and they collapse. They show bridges that were not fasten to the shore correctly and how the wind and waves collapse the bridges.

Do you get the idea that a sound foundation is important in building.

In our gospel lesson this morning, Jesus is also speaking about sound foundations.

He says: 24 "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;

25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Jesus is telling us that a firm foundation is important in our faith lives. He is telling us that location matters. We need to build upon a firm foundation.

And that foundation is Jesus Christ and His word.

A story makes us wonder where our foundation is today.

Listen:

Many years ago, a visitor to America stood in the middle of Wall street and said to himself, "Here is the power and greatness of America."

Shortly afterwards, he traveled to Washington D.C.. and stood in the middle of the rotunda of the Capitol and beheld the statues of the country’s greatest statesmen.

He said himself, "Ah, here is the greatness of America."

Later, he found himself in the heartland of Iowa. It was noon as he visited a family farm. The bell was rung on the back porch, the rest of the family, plus the hired man came in from the fields. He watched as they washed up by the pump, then they all gathered around the table piled high with food.