Matthew 7: 21-29

Matthew 7: 21-29

We conclude Chapter 7 of Matthew’s Gospel with Jesus showing us the difference between human and divine wisdom. Divine wisdom is built on a firm and eternal foundation were as human wisdom has its limitations.

Those who are truly wise are those who put Jesus’s teachings into practice and who conform to God’s will by obeying those teachings. One who does this prepares for eternity. When Jesus teaches, he does not give a mere opinion but absolute and definitive truths. There is nothing tentative or speculative in Jesus’s teachings. It is a complete command of the truth.

Foolish people are those according to Jesus who build their lives with no sound construction or maintenance and on weak foundations. These fools are complacent as they may hear the teachings and words of God but in reality, they ignore them. The materials of prayer, the sacraments and the virtues necessary for a holy life become secondary to our own human foibles.

Jesus is saying that the guarantee to his Kingdom is much more than going through the motions, saying the right words and hearing Jesus’s words. We have to produce the fruits that accord with Jesus’s teachings and words. St James in his letter will also echo Jesus when he says “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”