Breaking the Word

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined." (Mt 7:21, 24-27)

Jesus tells his listeners that they will be judged not even on their direct response to God himself but on whether they do something about what they have heard. Doing what Jesus says and not doing is what that makes the difference. Kingdom fo heaven is the place where the will of God is executed. This exactly what the prayer Jesus says: thy will be done. Jesus himself in the garden of Gethsemane prays thus: not my will but thy will be done.  This is what he teaches his disciples that they have to be doers of the will of God and not just those who invoke the name of God.

The parable is well known. Build your house on rock says Jesus and the rock is his own word. This again insists on doing things according to the word rather than just listening to the word. Jesus wants his disciples to build their lives on his teachings and if it is done so it will last for ever.  There are many admirers of the word of Jesus. They are even ready to argue about its validity and usefulness. There are also many who proclaim the word of Jesus and give fine interpretations for them but there are very few doers of his word.

 Moving on from there Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." The disciples said to him, "Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?" Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" "Seven," they replied, "and a few fish."  He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over– seven baskets full. (Mt 15:29-37)

The feeding of the four thousand is a miracle story that we find in Matthew’s gospel besides the feeding of the five thousand. Looking at the context (Jesus had just been in the region of Tyre and Sidon and healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman) some say that this miracle took place in a gentile territory. Or at least there were many gentiles present there. (Feeding of the five thousand was for the Jews and feeding of the four thousand for the gentiles). Also it is said that they glorified the God of Israel (meaning not their own gods). Gentiles also receive the benefits of the kingdom (healings and the feeding miracle)

Jesus takes the initiative here to care for the people. The disciples are just witnesses. Jesus has compassion on these people as he had when he fed the five thousand. The miracle story runs very similar to the feeding of the five thousand. The author Matthew has in mind that Jesus ministry does not totally limits itself to the Jews but also includes the gentiles. This is a lesson for the disciples: inclusive ministry.