Matthew 7:21-29
“‘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. On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” The I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

Huh. I guess the parking lots in heaven won’t be full of cars with those little Jesus fish on them. Or even those ribbon magnets turned on their side to look like fish. Surprising.

This is yet another passage in which a failure to realize that “Kingdom of Heaven” doesn’t mean “nice place to go when you die” obscures Jesus’ meaning. I’ve been struggling with ideas of works righteousness and free grace lately. Being a Methodist, I loves me some grace, but if everyone believes that God loves you no matter what and nothing you do can earn grace, you have it regardless, it’s really easy to be lazy.

Of course, Paul struggled with this as well, as have most Christians since. I like the Wesleyan approach that, while it is true that good works are not necessary for grace, you can’t really have experienced grace and not react to the world in love as a result. Knowing equals doing.

Perhaps the important thing here is the question itself, “Did not we [do things] in your name.” As my friend and fellow Metholectionist Will says, his idea of sacramental theology is to say the words and get out of the way. If we see the things we do as our actions in God’s name, rather than God’s actions through us, we engage in a type of self-idolatry, or at least a sort of self-aggrandizement.

“‘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, and the winds blew and beat on the 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 the house, and it fell–and great was its fall.’

Not much needs to be said here, really. Sophia begets strong children. The works of the wise will endure, and no one is wiser than God. Humbling oneself before God is, as the proverb says, the beginning of wisdom. When we are grounded in God, then God will act through us. The challenge to us is to take seriously what it means when our church is sinking around us.

“Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

This works as a wonderful call to humility. This is how Matthew ends the sermon on the mount. After three whole chapters advocating the unification of humanity in humility before a transcendent God, Matthew sows divisiveness by talking about how his teacher is better than their teacher. Like all the evangelists, Matthew had his points of emphasis, and one of his was how Jesus was the greatest Rabbi and the messiah predicted by the scriptures. He let this point overshadow the message of the Rabbi he was trying to honor and proclaim as messiah.

Well, now it’s time for me to figure out what God needs to tell these assholes. In all humility, of course.