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. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.
24 Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 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. 26 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. 27 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. 28 When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Jesus warned the disciples that they would not be judged by their eloquent words or their powerful deeds. Disciples of Christ could perform great works in the name of Jesus but live lives contrary to what God demanded. Those disciples would be rejected by Jesus at the final Judgment. They must live their lives in accordance with God’s will. They should not continue to live as foolish persons but try to understand the will of the Lord (Eph. 5:15-17). They should not be complacent and arrogantly assume that their salvation was assured (1 Cor. 3:13-15).
Jesus told his disciples that they should hear his words spoken in the sermon (Mt. 5:1-7:29) and put them into practice. They can wisely build their house on rock by listening to and acting on his words which lead to eternal life. In contrast, building a house on sand by not listening to and acting on his words is folly which leads to death (Deut. 30:15). There were scribes in Matthew’s Church (Mt. 13:52) who taught with authority and were well respected, but the crowd recognized that Jesus spoke with greater wisdom and authority than they did. Jesus’ authority was derived from his relationship with his Father.
Almighty God let our good works bear fruit as we are led by the Spirit of truth to a deeper knowledge of your love. Let the Word from our mouths and the work of our hands be Holy and pleasing to you, and may your divine presence be an everlasting fire in our hearts. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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