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| “The House Upon the Rock and The House Upon the Sand” by William James Webb, c. 1860 |
Commentary:
Reading 1: 2 Kings 24:8-17
Commentary on 2 Kgs 24:8-17
Following his father’s death, the young king, Jehoiachin, reigns for a very short period in Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar of Neo-Babylon has already been attacking Judah for some time, and reaches Jerusalem just three months after the new king ascends the throne (history records that the wall around Jerusalem was breached on March 16, 587 B.C.). Following its capture, we hear of the great Diaspora, and sack of the temple, as all of the leadership and soldiery are sent into exile.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
R. (9) For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Commentary on Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
Psalm 79 provides a penitential note similar to what is found in Baruch 1:15. It is a communal lament in which the assembly reflects upon the punishment endured because they have sinned against God, and disregarded his law. This lament is thought to reflect upon the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 587 BC. The singer asks God how long his anger at them will last, and pleads for pardon and deliverance. Following this admission, there is a plea for mercy and a promise of atonement.
CCC: Ps 79:9 431
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Gospel: Matthew 7:21-29
Commentary on Mt 7:21-29
This is the final section of the first of five great discourses of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. In it, he broadens his attack on false prophets to include those who perform acts in his name, but lead lives of sin. He uses the analogy of the house built upon sand and the house built upon rock to indicate that those who have a deep faith and act out of that faith have a strong foundation and can stand against adversity, while those who give the faith lip service, for others to see, but do not have that deep faith will fall. He will not even recognize them when they come before him in final judgment.
The Lord also makes a distinction between saying and doing. The metaphor of the “house built upon rock” refers to those who hear the word of the Lord from an authentic source and act upon it. The house built on sand is a metaphor for those who either are not taught authentically (by false prophets) or who do not act upon what they have been given.
CCC: Mt 7:21-27 1970; Mt 7:21 443, 1821, 2611, 2826; Mt 7:28-29 581
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Reflection:
We are reminded of a story about the young Dutch boy who wished to hold back the sea so he could build a home by a wave-swept shore. Each day he would go to the very edge of the shore at low tide, and erect a wall as quickly as he could in hopes that it would prevent the water from washing over the place where he wanted to build when the tide came back in. Each day, no matter how fast and how sturdily he built, the water would rush back, come around the sides of his wall, knock it down, and wash over it.
The boy was becoming very sad and disheartened. He went to his father and told him about his struggle. His father explained to him that, while he might be the best in the world at building dikes to hold back the water, he could not do what needed to be done by himself. He must enlist the aid of his friends and family that, together, they might create a structure that could hold back the sea for a day.
It was a week later that the boy, this time accompanied by his friends and family, came to the shore. When the tide had gone out they worked furiously together and made an enclosure. When the tide came back in, the weak places were able to be reinforced and the dike stood throughout high tide. As the water receded, more dikes were added and in a matter of weeks enough ground was reclaimed from the sea to build several houses.
The young man thanked those who had helped, and then together they thanked God, because the Lord had given them strength to build. The Lord had created the material with which they built, and had given them good weather, without which all they had done would have been impossible.
We thought of this story, first, because of the parable of the wise man who built his house upon a solid foundation, a rock. But, when we think about that foundation, we realized that it was not simply one rock that is the foundation for us, but many. One man, though he was also God, came into the world and established the cornerstone of faith, and upon that rock countless other people of great faith added their own effort, and in many cases their blood, so that the great monument to the Father, the Church, might be built.
We each must become like the rock that Jesus called in the person of St. Peter. We must strengthen ourselves with what is good through prayer and discernment so we, like the friends and family of the Dutch boy in the story, might stand together against the storm of the world, remaining firm in the faith to God’s glory. We must reject what comes from the evil one and test each notion against the measure of the love of God and His Son.
Pax
[1] The picture today is “The House Upon the Rock and The House Upon the Sand” by William James Webb, c. 1860
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