Two Builders

The story of the two builders found in Matthew 7 is one of the more famous parables of Jesus. We've sung songs about it, discussed it at vacation bible school - maybe even seen a flannelgraph or two on Sunday morning. If you were to ask the average person what the parable was about, you may get several responses. A common answer would be that the man who built his house on the rock was a Christian, while the man who built on the sand wasn't. Hence, the point is that it pays to believe in God, otherwise your life will be a disaster.

On the surface that makes sense. Although it would seem to contradict what Jesus said just a few verses earlier:

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:45

No, the men were not a Christian and a heathen (defined as someone that doesn't know anything about God). They were both followers of Christ - or I should clarify - they were both religious. How do I know this? Because they both heard the words of Jesus. Let's look at the parable:

²⁴ “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. ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

The difference between the two men is not that one was a church goer and the other wasn't. What made one wise and the foolish was not a difference in intellect or education. The only difference between them was what they did with what they heard. The foolish man heard and didn't act accordingly, while the wise man allowed what he heard to influence the way he lived.

What difference does it make? Does a slight misunderstanding of this parable really matter? I see at least two points that say "yes".

1. Misunderstanding in this specific parable can set up a false expectation. If you believe that just "being a Christian" will shield you from the storms of life... well, you're in for a rude awakening. In a more general sense, these types of misunderstanding can be damaging to our faith. If we have an unscriptural expectation that inevitably doesn't work out, it can cause us to doubt legitimate promises of God. The cynicism of unbelief is a slippery slope. The Bible is filled with wonderful promises from God, but these promises are filled in God's timing - and we certainly do ourselves no favors by misunderstanding the stipulations of the promises.

2. To miss the point of this parable is to miss the point of a much larger picture. This parable is actually the punchline of an entire sermon of Jesus. He says at the end (Claassen paraphrase), "If you apply what I just said you're wise, if you don't apply what I just said you're a fool". The idea of putting God's word into practice is the central theme of this blog. Living in the bible belt, you can see scores of people that are content to attend church and proceed to live however they want. They are the ones building on sand in this parable - not the criminals, prostitutes and politicians.

Next post will continue this thought about the parable being part of a larger sermon. What do you think? Who are the builders Jesus is talking about?