19th January 2018

You can feel the frustration out of which Jesus tells this familiar story. Perhaps we’re tempted to dwell upon the story and to miss the frustration. For the houses built with, and without, foundations are there to illustrate the point that is elusive enough to wind Jesus up.

People aren’t getting it. They are in love with the stories he is telling and the miracles he performs. But they are letting him, and the world he is offering, stay at arms’ length. His message is not going deep enough; transformed lives remain elusive even with Jesus in their midst.

It isn’t enough to hear the word from God. This word, voiced by Jesus, would lay hold of us if we let it. This word, carried to us through our Bibles, would transform our living if we truly let it. This word, brought to life amidst us by the Holy Spirit, would captivate and bless, judge and heal, restore and captivate us if we dare to let it become our foundation.

Jesus seeks us out and bids us to follow him. He calls us to be friends to him and for each other; disciples and children of God. But following can be a shallow response when our daily living is not built upon real devotion to him. Hearing without doing makes faithfulness into a sham. Jesus does not want pretence. He comes to invite us to stop pretending and to begin to live.

And this matters, for the flood and storm are coming. They will come for his disciples as Jesus heads towards the cross and they fall away, except for the women. They will come for us as life grants us blessing and pain, gain and loss. Pretend faith cannot keep us safe. We need deep foundations.

Today's contributor is the Rev Neil Thorogood, Principal of Westminster College, Cambridge.