Proper 4 Year A

Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A
Ordinary Time
Proper 4

Genesis 6.9–22; 7.24; 8.14–19
Romans 1.16–17; 3.22b–28 [29–31]
Matthew 7.21–29

‘These words of mine.’ No wonder they thought Jesus was claiming an authority of his own, superior to that of the scribes. They would never have claimed anything for their own words, merely for those of the text they were expounding.

The house on the rock, arguably, is another picture of the Temple – which Herod Antipas was still building, and against which Jesus addressed some of his sternest words. The whole Sermon has constituted a claim that the way things are going in Israel is a mistake, a disobedience, and that this is the last chance to get back on track, to be the light of the world. Failure now will mean the destruction of the Temple and all that it stood for. The Sermon on the Mount balances Matthew’s final discourse (chs 23—25), where these warnings reach their height.

Jesus, meanwhile, is warning sternly against an easygoing discipleship which, while keeping companionship with him, fails to take seriously the challenge of the gospel, the absolute demands for God-centred holiness and renewed integrity...

Taken from Twelve Months of Sundays Year A by N T Wright

Published by SPCK