Not Judging, but Doing
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“It fell not; for it was founded upon the rock.”—Matthew 7:25,
R. V.
The people had been deeply moved by the words of Christ. The
divine beauty of the principles of truth attracted them; and Christ’s
solemn warnings had come to them as the voice of the heart-searching
God. His words had struck at the very root of their former ideas and
opinions; to obey His teaching would require a change in all their
habits of thought and action. It would bring them into collision with
their religious teachers; for it would involve the overthrow of the whole
structure which for generations the rabbis had been rearing. Therefore,
while the hearts of the people responded to His words, few were ready
to accept them as the guide of life.
Jesus ended His teaching on the mount with an illustration that
presented with startling vividness the importance of putting in practice
the words He had spoken. Among the crowds that thronged about the
Saviour were many who had spent their lives about the Sea of Galilee.
As they sat upon the hillside, listening to the words of Christ, they
could see valleys and ravines through which the mountain streams
found their way to the sea. In summer these streams often wholly
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disappeared, leaving only a dry and dusty channel. But when the
wintry storms burst upon the hills, the rivers became fierce, raging
torrents, at times overspreading the valleys and bearing everything
away on their resistless flood. Often, then, the hovels reared by the
peasants on the grassy plain, apparently beyond the reach of danger,
were swept away. But high upon the hills were houses built upon the
rock. In some parts of the land were dwellings built wholly of rock,
and many of them had withstood the tempests of a thousand years.
These houses were reared with toil and difficulty. They were not easy
of access, and their location appeared less inviting than the grassy
plain. But they were founded upon the rock, and wind and flood and
tempest beat upon them in vain.
Like the builders of these houses on the rock, said Jesus, is he
who shall receive the words that I have spoken to you, and make
them the foundation of his character and life. Centuries before, the
prophet Isaiah had written, “The word of our God shall stand forever”
(
Isaiah 40:8
); and Peter, long after the Sermon on the Mount was
given, quoting these words of Isaiah added, “This is the word which