Context No. 2887 of 4322 · Luke
Context · Reflection
Luke 6:43-49: in context
43“For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit. 44For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. 46“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say? 47Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words and does them, I will show you who he is like. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock. 49But he who hears and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Jesus offers two images with one point. A tree is known by its fruit; a good tree does not bear rotten fruit, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Then, sharply: why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? The one who hears his words and does them is like a man who dug deep and laid a foundation on rock, so the flood could not shake his house. The one who hears and does not do built on the ground with no foundation, and it collapsed.
What is inside always shows, and hearing is never enough. The fruit reveals the tree, and the mouth reveals the heart; you cannot fake for long what you actually are. And the storm reveals the foundation. Both men heard the same words of Jesus, but only the one who did them had built on rock. The difference between the two houses was not how much they knew, but whether they dug deep and acted on what they heard.
Am I only hearing Jesus' words, or actually digging deep and doing them, so that my house will stand when the flood comes?
Sources
- Luke 6:46: "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and don't do the things which I say?"
- Luke 6:48: "He dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock... the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it."
- James 1:22: "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves."