Epiphany 5 (NL1) John B. Valentine
Matthew 7:1-14, 24-29 February 5, 2023

“CAN YOU STAND THE RAIN?”

Any of you perchance spent any time reading weather-related news lately??

I mean ... there’s been:

• countless reports about record rainfalls and record snowpack ... and

• and oodles of articles about floods and sinkholes and landslides and the like ... and

• technical explanations as to why ... what we used to just call ‘the Pineapple Express’ ... is now deemed an ‘atmospheric river' or a ‘bomb cyclone' or some such thing.

But at the same time ... there’s also been:

• a raft of articles as to why ... even though reservoirs are overflowing ... we’re still in the middle of a drought ...

• and now this week ... a big hullabaloo as to how changing weather patterns in the southwestern corner of our country mean that there’s a huge battle for water rights is Nevada and Arizona and California looming on the horizon.

It seems as though everybody is talking about rain ... and about its hyper-abundance ... or maybe the lack thereof.

And so ... it would seem ... the question posed by Jesus in the context of this morning’s lesson ... should be right in our wheelhouse ...

“Can you stand the rain?”

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Actually ... have any of the rest of you noticed how storm forecasting has changed in the past three or four years?

It used to be that the people on TV would say folksy things like “This storm that’s coming looks like it’s going to be a real gully-washer” ....

Nowadays they get all precise and trot out their ‘Storm Impact Scales’ and say that an impending storm is going to be a “Three” or a “Four” ... or ... as was the case a couple of weeks back ... a “Five”.

We used to talk about the weather in terms of vague forecasts and predictions ...

Nowadays we pull out our phones at say “At six o’clock tonight ... there’s a 90% chance of rain ... probably about a quarter-inch.”

We used to be okay with the unpredictability of the weather ...

Nowadays we want to consult the Doppler radar and know when and where and how much ... with great precision.

But despite all our newfangled technologies ... there’s still a certain unpredictability about the weather ... is there not?

Just because they ‘say’ that a given storm is going to be a “Five” doesn’t exactly mean that it is going to be a ”Five” ... and ...

Just because they say that a given storm is going to slam the Bay Area doesn’t mean that it may not slide north and hit Lake County ... or dip south and nail the Central Coast.

Because the weather is the weather ... and the weather is ... by nature ... UNpredictable ... and weather has ... for a long time ... been a universal metaphor for life.

I mean ...

• One minute you’re up ... the next minute you’re down.

• One moment it seems like everything is under control ... the next moment it feels like NOTHING is “under control”.

In the blink of an eye ... all that you’ve worked for ... all that you’ve studied for ... all that you’ve prayed and saved and hoped and waited for ... is suddenly washed away.

You were enjoying those proverbial “showers of blessings” .... but all of a sudden the showers become a storm .... and you find yourself wondering if you can stand the rain.

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You see ... the text of this morning’s gospel lesson is the conclusion from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.”

In Matthew chapters five and six ... and in the first part of chapter seven ...

Jesus has been laying out a series of standards for godly living ...

What it means to be a follower of Jesus’ way rather than the way of the world.

Those three chapters contain some of the most familiar verses in the whole of the Bible:

• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
• “You are the salt of the earth.”
• “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”
• “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
• “Give us this day our daily bread.”
• “Take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”
• “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

Jesus’ words are clear instructions for those seeking to live according to God’s will.

But his conclusion to that sermon kind of changes the urgency of what he’s saying:

“Everyone” ... he says ... “who hears 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 beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!"

With that simple story ... Jesus ups the ante on the meaning and the impact of his words .... such that what he’s saying is no longer just “good advice for better living”

But rather “advice necessary for your survival”!!

It’s not just “Can you stand the rain?” as in “Can you put up with and tolerate it?”

It’s “Can you withstand the rain?” as in “Can you survive the storms which inevitably are coming?”

For the fact of the matter is that:

• Every house will be tested.

• Into each life ... the rains will fall.

• Contrary to our hopes and dreams and desires ... the sun won’t shine forever.

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You see ... when Jesus is talking about these inevitable storms ... he’s not just talking about the weather out there ... he’s talking about the weather in here ... on the inside ...

He’s talking about the storms of life that test us and try us and prove us ... or prove us wanting.

• “Rain” in our life might look like the death of a relative or the death of a relationship.

• “Rain” can be an unhappy home where love is absent ... and mutual respect and responsibility are not recognized.

• “Rain” can be the pain of living alone or the absence of someone with whom to spend you life.

• “Rain” is the hurt you feel when you’ve been walked on, talked about, lied to, by someone you thought was your friend.

• “Rain” may be the awareness that you didn’t make it ... or that you may not make it ... to wherever you’d hoped you were headed ... and having to decide what that says about you and your self-worth.

• “Rain” may be spell c-a-n-c-e-r ... or s-t-r-o-k-e ... or however it is that you spell “bankruptcy”.

But the fact of the matter is that ... into every life ... rain will fall.

Into every life ... storms will come.

And the question then hits us full on:

“Can you stand ... can you withstand ... the rain?”

And that depends ... Jesus says ... on how you built your house.

For only houses with firm foundations can withstand the storms of life.

And the only material suitable for foundation-building is that Rock which is the word ... the truth ... the life ... the love .... of God.

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I read an article once ... actually a longtime ago now ... in the New Yorker magazine ... that has always stuck with me on this subject ...

It wasn’t like those best-selling books Tuesdays with Morrie and The Last Lecture which everybody goobled up because they revealed the beauty in a life well-lived ... even amid life’s final storms ...

Rather ... this article was precisely the opposite ... the story of a life that ended in horror.

This article told the story of a man named Kirk Bains ... who’d been an incredibly successful Wall Street venture capitalist ... and the final days of his fight against cancer.

Apparently ... Kirk Bains was one of those people who’d spent a whole lot of time building out the beautiful house that was his life ... but he hadn’t given much attention to his foundations.

He confessed that his top priority had always and only been “the deal” ...

And he’d been incredibly successful at “the deal” ...

And he seemed preternaturally gifted at knowing when to get in quick ... ahead of everyone else ...

And equally gifted at knowing when to get out.

And he’d made a LOT of money ... and his life’s story was littered with receipts from the fanciest establishments the world over.

But when asked by the interviewer about his personal life ... and in particular his religious affiliation ... Kirk Bains stumbled.

“I celebrate Christmas ... the music ... giving gifts. That’s fun. But religion ... I can’t put much stock in it.”

Then he went on to say:

“Let me put it in my own terms. I’m not a long-term investor. I like quick returns. I don’t believe in working for dividends paid only in heaven.”

But then listen to how it was that Kirk Bains ... in the days just before his death ... summarized his life:

“I never really cared about the world’s events or its people,” he said. “I had no interest in creating something ... not a product ... nor a partnership with a person. And now I have no [spiritual] equity. No dividends coming in. Nothing to show in my portfolio.”

And his summary statement of the whole of his life was this:

“I was a self-absorbed, uncaring [jerk].”

Ouch!

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For Jesus said:

“Everyone then who hears 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 beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!"