Matt 7: 24-27 Luke 6: 47-49
“Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell; and great was the fall of it.
Completely Non-Expert Interpretation:
One would think this parable would age well in that it seems like common sense to build a house on rock instead of sand. However, I remember visiting my grandmother on the Cape year after year and seeing various houses that had been built on the sandy cliffs along the beach literally inches away from the sand the house was built on eroding out from under it and the house sliding down the cliff. And I think you probably had to have a college degree to afford one of those houses. So maybe building a house on rock isn’t the common sense it used to be.
Just to make sure everyone is on the same page: it is a good idea to build a house on rock and not a good idea to build a house on sand, no matter how wonderful the view because nature can be quite unforgiving and rock is better at standing against the unforgivingness.
With this understanding of sound architecture in mind, Jesus is teaching about being prepared and practical living and that like a house, our soul (our lives) should be built on a rock, which is Christ and His teachings and not on shifting sands, which is earthly success. The wise builder hears the words of Jesus and acts on them, building a solid foundation while the foolish builder fails to pay attention to the warnings and, instead of securing his house, worries more about having the best ocean view in the neighborhood. The day of judgement will expose which foundation we chose and we don’t want to go sliding down the sandy cliff on the day of judgement because there isn’t a beautiful ocean at the bottom of that cliff!
This parable also hearkens back to the wise King Solomon who built the temple on a huge rock Mount Moriah. (It’s the same location where Abraham almost sacrificed his only begotten son). The hope is, if you follow Jesus’ teachings, you will be like Solomon, the great king, building a temple on a strong foundation.
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