Thursday in the First Week of Advent, December 3, 2020

Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  [Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and done many miracles in your name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.]  Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

The Gospel reading for today’s Mass is taken from the final verses of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount in chapter seven of the Gospel of St. Matthew.  Strangely, the reading leaves out verses 22 and 23 before skipping ahead to verse 24.  It is hard to see the purpose for cutting them out as these excised verses provide the basis for understanding what follows.  These are included here enclosed in brackets.

The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew 5-7 is, like so much else in this Gospel, to prepare the early Jewish Christians for the final judgment.  The Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  That is, many people will address Jesus as “Lord”, but not many people will act as though they believe that he is the Lord.  These will either consider him inferior to themselves and their own judgments, or they will attempt to manipulate him for their own profit.  Of the first group, some will pick and choose which of his commandments to follow and decide for themselves how to follow them, and some will say to themselves that Jesus is an important historical figure but whose commandments are limited to a certain time and place and so are no longer relevant.  Of the second group will be those who found cults and “churches” claiming that they have finally uncovered the authentic message of the Gospel, the meaning of the Lord’s commandments, and the “true” identity of Jesus.  Often, these people will combine thin shreds of the meat of the Gospel with fatty chunks of Eastern or New Age/gnostic  beliefs.  Others of this group will seek political power by invoking the Lord’s name when convenient and falsely claiming to belong to him. “Only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” will enter the Kingdom of heaven — those who have his name engraved on their hearts.

“Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and done many miracles in your name?”  Many false Christians — particularly the manipulators — will say this to the Lord when he comes to judge.  These used the Lord’s name to justify their religious cults or political statements and policies.  It is because people even in early times did this that St. Paul told the Thessalonian Christians: “Test everything.  Hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 51, 21).  How can we know if something or someone is good or not?  Earlier in the sermon Jesus told the crowd, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7, 15-16).  That is, we must examine their works closely to see if the fruit is fresh or rotten.  The Fathers comment that these false Christians only seem to perform miracles and to cast out devils, but they do not in fact do this.  The claims, which are bald-faced lies, these people will make show the desperation of those who make them: lying even to Christ himself.   “I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”  The Lord will tell these liars and frauds that he “never knew them”, not that he did not know who they were or that they were false, but that he never knew them as his own followers: “My sheep hear my voice. And I know them: and they follow me” (John 10, 27).

Having established that there will be false prophets in whom people will believe and choose for their lords, Jesus now tells what will happen to these and what will happen to those who believe in him: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”  A person who is careful and skillful does not build his house just anywhere, but first looks for a place to lay a solid foundation.  He does not choose swampy ground, even though it may be inexpensive, nor a site that is near a body of water and is below its level.  He looks for rocky ground, or a flat place where he can pour concrete for a foundation.  This foundation will hold up the walls and ultimately the roof of the house.  For the Christian, this means knowing the teachings of Christ and faithfully following them, and knowing him in his teachings and through prayer.  “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.”  The “rain” which falls on the house is the darkness of superstition and false teaching which assail the Christian through the voices of non-believers.  The “floods” are interior temptations against the virtues, such as those against chastity, modesty, and temperance.  The “winds” are persecutions and tribulations that the faithful suffer.  None of these is strong enough to tear the true believer from belief in Christ.  One who does not have faith, or whose faith is weak, will certainly fall because of one or more of these.  He will collapse and be “completely ruined”.  He will lose everything, including his life, because he “built his house” — put his faith — in the obviously unsuitable sandy ground of those who promise false freedoms.