Overview:
Thursday of the First Week of Advent
A Reflection for Thursday of the First Week of Advent
“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.” (Mt 7:24-27)
Find today’s readings here.
Anyone who has lived in a place that alternates between wet and dry seasons knows the power of returning storms. Everything changes with the rain. Dry ground turns green and bursts into flowers. Silent deserts roar with the voices of insects and birds. Watercourses long dry now pulse with streams that overtop their banks and flood the surrounding plains.
The first storm can be especially dramatic. Walls of water race along empty streambeds pushing a mixture of rock, soil, wood and debris that bulldozes anyone or anything in the way. It is dramatic and deadly, and it is entirely the image Jesus has in mind.
The Gospel reading today comes from the very end of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1-7:29). This lengthy discourse functions like a “constitution” on discipleship. Jesus probably preached a version of this sermon in every place he visited. It is a key text in Matthew’s Gospel. The evangelist probably wrote his account between the years A.D. 80 and A.D. 90, when it was clear that Christ’s second coming had been delayed. He wrote to explain to Christians how to behave in this extended period of waiting and how to maintain a sense of preparedness.
Matthew communicates far more of Jesus’ ethical teachings than the other Gospel writers do. Mark focuses on maintaining faith, Luke on drawing more people to Christ and John on personal transformation through love. Matthew emphasizes action and attitude, especially in the form of generosity, kindness, forgiveness and dependence on God. When Christ comes again, prepared disciples will be those who have cared for the needs of the poor; refrained from judging and forgiven the wrongs of others; and whose prayer and fasting have deepened their faith.
At one level, then, the flood in today’s Gospel reading is Christ himself. Later in Matthew’s Gospel he refers to his own second coming as the “Great Tribulation” (Mt 24:21). These are days of distress that will accompany his return in judgment. No disciple who follows Jesus’ teaching and example will have anything to fear on that day when he looks into each heart.
This parable also provides day-to-day wisdom. The storms and floods of human history are only slightly less dramatic and deadly than the tribulation that will come at the end of time. These too turn aside when they strike the solid rock of Christ’s word and example. A life centered on self-interest is one of narrow vision. This is the house built on sand. A life centered on the needs of others opens one’s eyes to the opportunities of human kindness and divine grace as they manifest themselves in unexpected ways. This is the house built on rock.
As we ourselves prepare again to celebrate Jesus’ birth, perhaps it is the right time to evaluate our own foundations. How closely do the foundations of our house cling to the solid rock of Jesus’ teaching and example? These can always grow stronger as we recommit to lives of kindness, mercy, generosity and forgiveness.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts