#18 The foundation of life

[AI translation] We all feel immediately that this is a speech. Jesus is not talking about a house that we live in, not their dwelling house, but some kind of spiritual house. Not of the house that people build for themselves out of stone, bricks, wood and other materials, but of the spiritual building that is made of thoughts, feelings, desires, hopes, daily troubles, events, piled up on top of each other, built into a spiritual house, our individuality, our inner life. Yes, it is about the house of our life, and even about its deepest foundation, its foundation, because just as the most important thing for a house is its foundation, so this is the most important question for the whole structure of our life: what is it built on, what is in the depths? In our human life, what is visible, what is on the surface, can be very important, but what is not visible is even more important: the foundation, the basis of life. This is the most important question for all of us, because we simply live in a world where there is not only pleasant, caressing sunshine, but also sometimes torrential rain, devastating floods, raging windstorms.Jesus speaks of this with such sober reality. He is not saying beware, for there may be a flood in your life, there may be a windstorm, there may be rain clouds covering the sun. No. He is almost telling you in advance: expect floods to come, winds to blow, rain to fall. It is part of human life. It's not just one unlucky, fated person who will be affected by the rain, the storm, but it's the general human fate. In every spiritual house, sooner or later, but in some way or other, these life-destroying forces, the flood of tearing troubles, the flood of painful disappointments, the storm of spiritual pains, of unfulfilled desires, the shower of bitter tears, will inevitably come crashing into every spiritual house. It has been said that every house has its own cross, every heart has a wound somewhere, every life has some special trouble, problem, burden, burden. There is a time in everyone's life when the rain pours, the floods come and the winds blow.
Sometimes, suddenly and unexpectedly, some terrifying storm can hit a house. Yesterday the sun may have been shining brightly, singing a song of happiness and cheerfulness. Then suddenly the sky darkened, and trouble came upon the house as if it had been struck by lightning. All life was shaken. Could it stand the storm? Would it collapse? That depends on the foundation it's built on. What are the foundations.
And one more thing: it is possible to live your life here on earth without any major shocks, to avoid major storms, and still have what is sure to come. If not sooner, then in death, at the Last Judgment, all will experience in all its harsh reality what Jesus' words mean: 'And the rain poured down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was built upon the rock' (v. 25). And then the question will really become acute: what was your life built on?!
Jesus says: the foundation of a life is either sand or rock. There were many at one time who believed that the surest foundation for life was land, property, wealth. Then came the great historic storm and washed that ground out from under them like a flood washing away the sand. It turned out that it could not be built on permanently. But he who builds on his health, on the vitality of his youth, builds on sand. All it takes is one misdirected step off the tram and the foundations crumble, everything collapses. I knew someone who built his whole life on the hope of a happy family life. Then came the storms of disappointment, and everything was fundamentally shaken. He felt a whole world crumbling in his soul. There have been many times when a person has staked his whole life - even his faith in God - on a passionate love, a precious person, an ambition, and then came the cold shower, a deadly torrent of drifts, and it happened to him literally what Jesus said: 'he was broken down, and his ruin was great'. It is a good thing, but it is not good as a foundation. It is not good to build on, to build a life on, because all these things, however precious and good they are, are like sand: they will not hold a house built on them when the rain pours, the floods come and the winds blow.
What then is the rock, the solid and firm foundation on which a man can safely build his house? Jesus says this: "Therefore if anyone hears these words from me and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Mt 7,24). What does this mean? The word of God is the deepest foundation. The most solid foundation. If only because there is no situation in life in which it is not valid, where it is not topical, where it does not belong. Is it not strange that the word of God should sound alike over the cradle and over the coffin? Is it current in the joy of the wedding and in the night of sorrows? It was heard at the dawn of creation, and it will be heard when heaven and earth pass away! And indeed, the word of God is as much with us in the joyful hours of life - for it sanctifies joy - as in the sorrow of disappointment and grief - for it comforts the heart. It is with us in abundance as well as in need, in laughter as well as in tears, in riches as well as in poverty, in happiness as well as in unhappiness, here in the church community as well as in the solitude of the hospital bed. And then, in that last hour, when we no longer feel the grip of the dear hand that holds our hand, when all our loved ones are left behind on the shore below, when the birdsong is silent and the day is dark, when everything and everyone leaves us!
This wonderful word, the word of God, will not be torn from us, and will not be fulfilled, which we have asked in our lifetime: "Do not pass away from me when I pass away" (Cant. 341). Oh, how many times have I seen in dying people that the word of God miraculously penetrates through layers of the soul and penetrates to depths where the human word can no longer reach! The word of God accompanies us across that unknown border and waits on the other side, where it is still valid, still a force. Therefore the deepest foundation of life is the word of God, the word of God. For it is the words of him, the voice of him in whom all roads lead to his throne, through the many stages of joy and pain, of hope and despair, the path of each one of us. From there this word, the word of God, is spoken to us.
Do you see why the word of God can only be the only sure foundation of our lives? Simply because it is the only one that is constant, that remains, that remains faithful, that remains always the same, and because there is not a single moment in which the word of God is not a valid, active factor. Not a single moment. There is the moment of the commission of sin: there too this word judges and this word forgives. When everything becomes meaningless, hopeless: there too, the word of God shows the way out and raises new hope. Heaven and earth will pass away - that is, all that heaven and earth have comforted, tormented, cheered or saddened us with will pass away - but His words will never pass away (cf. Mt 4,35). Those who want to be companions of the Lord who spoke these words, the Word, who was the Word Himself, the Word of God made flesh (cf. Jn 1,1-14) Therefore the Word of God is a rock that defies all storms.
But Jesus adds one more very important thing: "Therefore someone hears these words from me and does them". So it is not the word itself that is the rock, but the word that a person does, that a person acts on, that a person really takes seriously. So it is not the word that one might mechanically glance over in one's Bible every day, or read in a hurried way in the Guide. It can also be sand. It is the Word alone that keeps you going through all the time, through everything you do. What does it mean to do? It simply means to live. To live with it, by it. To read, to hear, with the desire that here is God speaking to me, whose word is a creative power, a healing, purifying, uplifting, destiny-shaping power. To act is to take the reality of the problems in my life seriously: how to solve my financial difficulties, how to get out of my pension, what will happen to my children if they are not accepted at university - but in all this I am even more concerned about the reality of the word that the tomorrow that worries me so much is in God's hands. Nothing can be worth anything that has not first passed through His censure, and that all things must work for my good if my love for Him does not grow cold!
It is true that I have been grievously hurt by someone, he deserves to be treated by me as he deserves, but it is even more true what Jesus said, that you do good to those who persecute and hurt you, and I hold to that despite all my feelings. It's true that I have too much on my shoulders, I can't take it anymore, no wonder I get upset. Yet I prefer to prostrate myself before the One who said that He loves me with an everlasting love, and I carry on with my burdens in the certainty that "I have power over all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4,13).
Yes, it is something like this to hear these words from Jesus and to do them. It is to dare to obey the word of Jesus, even if, humanly speaking, it seems crazy. I dare to speak the truth even if I am considered foolish for doing so, because God commands it. And I trust with all my heart that God will not fail me, but will keep his promises. To do so is to bring everything to God: my colleagues who are having difficulties, the letter of condolence I have to write, the clear and bright autumn sunshine I enjoy on a trip, the war in Vietnam I read about in the newspaper, my child's fever, my neighbor's illness, the fatigue of my work, the quiet of my evening off, all of these I bring to God in supplication and thanksgiving. It is something like this, to do it, for only that word becomes a rock beneath our feet on which we are fully committed.
Once, a believer, George Müller, built an orphanage for hundreds of children on the word "Ask and it shall be given you" (Lk 11,9). And God always handed out through people what was needed. They were never in need. Let me emphasize again: only that divine word, that biblical word, becomes a rock, an unshakeable foundation under us, on which we truly, completely stand! Anyone who takes the word of God casually as a little solemn mood, as a little sniff of the atmosphere of another world, as a beautiful thought, his whole life of faith is a sand-belief, washed away by the first shower. Many such sand Christians have been shipwrecked in the storms of life. But for the one who really dares to stand on what God has said, and to shiver at the fact that he walks and lives with Jesus - for him every word of Jesus becomes at once an unshakable rock foundation, he feels held by the hand of God!
Jesus himself is the rock who is the solid foundation. Jesus himself is the precious divine hand that never lets go. Jesus is the eternity that always remains. Jesus is the peace that surpasses all understanding. He is the one who can always be counted on, on whom all things can be built. Life is always difficult at its core. Happiness is hard, and unhappiness is hard. So are our tasks. And our hearts are hard. Well-being is hard, and sadness is hard. The sand can't take it! But there is room on the rock for all of us! Let us tell Him with all our hearts:
Invincible and my rock,
My protector and my stone, ,
On the cross at a dear price
I look to thee for my protection.
(Canticle 346, verse 1)
Amen
Date: 29 August 1965.