Christ the Rock
‘His commands are stronger than any rock, setting one above all the waves of human affairs.’ – St John Chrysostom – Homily 24 on Matthew
Reading: Matthew 7:21, 24-27
The following homily was preached to the student brothers during Compline.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
As we begin this season of Advent, we should prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ. Those words should serve to wake us out of any sense of complacency.
Our hearts might have become hardened, we might end up prideful like the Pharisee, thanking God that we are “not like other men […] I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get”, rather than being like the tax collector praying earnestly “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18.11, 13). When we get neglectful, complacent, or prideful in doing God’s will, the house we built on sand will fall.
Only a house built on a solid foundation can resist the inevitable storms we will encounter. Only a house that is maintained by a life of unceasing prayer, the study of God’s Word, and the preaching of the good news will find rest “in the shelter of the Most High” (Psalm 91:1). All that we are and all that we do must be built on Christ Jesus, our sure foundation (Isaiah 28:16, 1 Corinthians 3:11).
In this time of preparation and conversion, let us ensure that Christ is the foundation of our lives. Let us turn and keep our eyes firmly fixed on him in this world filled with distractions. Let nothing stand between Him and us.
Thomas a Kempis writes in the Imitation of Christ: “You must surrender all other love in order to love Him, for Jesus demands our love above everything else. […] Those who cling to worldly things will fall when they fail. But those who cling to Jesus will stand firm for ever. So love Him and keep Him as your friend.” (Thomas a Kempis – Imitation of Christ 2.7).
Let us then turn to God with ever greater confidence, calling out for His mercy. Confident that “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Let us not stop calling upon God. And let us never stop striving to do the will of Our Father who is in heaven.
Image: Jan Luyken, The House Upon the Rock (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons).
