Proposed – with added info from social data

The Parable of The Wise And Foolish Builders.  On one level, it’s about the choice between building a house on rock or sand.  That sounds like an easy choice to make.  On another level, it’s about what we do, if anything, after hearing or reading what Jesus had to say.  It’s interesting that it comes at the very end of The Sermon On The Mount.  Chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew’s Gospel.  John Stott says this about the Sermon on the Mount passages:

The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do. To my mind, no two words sum up its intention better, or indicate more clearly its challenge to the modern world, than the expression ‘Christian counter-culture’. ¹Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (pp. 14–15). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Proposed - with added info from social data is article # in the series: . Click button to view titles for entire series

If you haven’t read it yet, this might be a good time to check out some background information on why Jesus spoke in parables. There’s so much misunderstanding and/or incomplete understanding of why Jesus used parables.

That really sets up the “problems” with parables quite nicely.  They’re well known.  Easy to remember.  But hard to understand.  Just like the Sermon on the Mount. 

There’s a saying about something being a riddle wrapped up in an enigma.  This is one of those.  The saying is meant to portray something very mysterious and hidden.  That it’s also out in the open, easy to remember and easy to understand only serves to make it even more enigmatic (difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.)  How’s that for a riddle wrapped up in an enigma which itself is a riddle wrapped up in an enigma?

Footnotes

• 1
  Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (pp. 14–15). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.