That's why the one who hears these words of mine and acts on them shall be like a wise man who builds his house ( church ) on the rock. Down came the rain, rose up the foods and lashed at by the winds. They all cut at the house, but it didn't fall.
And the one who hears these words of mine and fails to act on them shall be like a fool who built his house ( church ) on sand. The rain came down, the floods rose up and the winds lashed out. They all cut at that house, and it fell. It collapsed, and was washed away in all directions. ( Matt. 7:15-27 )
I wonder if the inhabitants of these churches weren't the same people in Jesus parable of the " Members and Non-members " the people that were mislead to buy into the building, it's rituals and programs. Jesus said, not everyone who slickly calls me " Lord, Lord " will enter the Kingdom. The time will come when many people will gather around and say, " L-o-rd, O L-o-rd " we sure did preach in your name, didn't we? And in your name we gave the devil a run for his money, didn't we? We did all kinds of stunts in your name, didn't we? Then I'll admit right in front of everybody, " I've never known you. Get away from me, you wicked religious racketeers."
It's interesting in the parable of the house builders...both owners are supposedly followers of Jesus. The ones who say " Lord, Lord " are deep believers, everything thing is etched in stone. They have mapped out the route to access God, there are no alternative routes, side roads or detours. And yes membership has its privelges. But here, mercy and grace have become a resource of the church, like a tap...in which they control who gets it, and how much. Justice is nothing more than policing, rendering fines and punishment. The staus quo in which the church lives has not been shattered. The peace has not been disturbed, it parades behind a " warrior Jesus " when the reality is Jesus told Peter to lay his sword down. There has been no prophetic voice over and against the power of worldly empires and oppressive religion. The Kingdom hasn't come.
But the " wise " ones have built their houses on the foundations of the Kingdom. They are the ones who have put the redemptive imaginative vision of Jesus into action, who have surrounded those ideas with a parabolic life ( living out the reality of the parables ). Through it's servanthood, resistance and sacrifice it points out the things that are not as they should be. And a foretaste of a new emerging world is revealed...on earth, as in heaven. God knows us when we enter into the Kingdom, not when we are just content with a superficial imitation of family ( church ) denominational traits, traditions, rituals...and a members code of conduct.
If we have mapped our lives out in the gospels and live the parabolic life of Jesus. If our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, and our hearts have understood...then we have been turned around, upside down. It's like the guy that was navigating the contours on the margins of life, the ditches and back alleys and saw something glimmer...a treasure that he sold his life for. The parables have led us into the Kingdom of God; our lives have become a fresh incarnation of God's loving, merciful and grace-filled character.
Living the parabolic life of Jesus can't be sketched out on blue prints, etched in stone, painted in black and white, boxed in a DVD and book...you can only pitch your life into your neighborhood, the streets of the global village...and be the incarnational presence of Jesus.
