Stubbornness Leads to Death

Our host parish in Tarpon Springs is still in a state of emergency from Hurricane Helene. Thankfully our town was spared the ‘worst’ of the storm, but we still learned a lesson. Refusing to evacuate causes more damage than property. People die from storms when they remain.

The Lord said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been founded upon the rock. But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” After he had ended all his sayings in the hearing of the people he entered Capernaum.

Luke 6:46-49, 7:1

Our town was under more than five feet of ‘storm surge’ less than a week ago, so today’s reading hits home for me. Driving through town is heartbreaking as entire lives are ‘out on the curb’ as junk. House after house, pile after pile, very little remains in homes around town.

In our case, thank God nobody died. Things can be replaced. Memories are in our minds, not in boxes. If I lost all my pictures, I would have to admit I can’t remember the last time I looked at any of them in the first place. Now, let me get to my point.

Christ wasn’t talking about storm surge when He spoke about foundations. Life is a storm surge and like it or not, the floods will come. Whether it is natural disasters, war, hatred among family members, or the loss of a job, life sometimes beats against us like flood waters. Will we stand?

Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” Have you asked yourself that question lately? If Christ said, and He did say it, that the Christian life would require us to risk losing everything to remain alive, why are we still clinging to the world? We will stand?

Material things are not the only flood waters. Like waves of floodwaters, the demons beat against our soul every day, day after day. The only way for us to survive their constant attack is to be prepare for the surge, and when we see the surge coming, walk away from them.

That’s right. We can walk away from the temptations of the demons. We can get to safety in Christ and His Church. We can live to fight another, and clean up after the storm, but only if we have the right foundation. Our foundation is not made of stone, it is made of Christ.

Christ and His Church are our foundation. The Holy Sacraments are the mortal that hold it together. Stones without mortar collapse under the smallest waves. Without the Holy Sacraments of the Church our lives are nothing but a pile of stones waiting to be destroyed.

The Holy Sacraments aren’t magic. They teach us how to live. They teach us how to be strong. Keeping the building imagery going, the Holy Sacraments are the building codes to a stronger foundation. The Holy Sacraments make us holy because they are gifts from God.

When Jesus asked, “Why don’t you do what I tell you,” He was calling us out. “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” (John 14.15) The Holy Sacraments teach us how to love God and follow His commandments. “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22.19) That’s Communion.

Through the Holy Sacraments we are united to God’s grace and His life. Without God our lives collapse. Without God we wash away in the storm surge. Why do we sill refuse to listen to God? How many ‘close calls’ are we going to experience before we turn to Him, totally?

If we insist on ‘riding out the storm,’ one day it will be too much for us and we will drown. Learn the lesson from Hurricane Helene and focus on the foundation, which is Christ and His Church. If He is indeed our Lord, we should start doing what He says. The alternative is death. I choose life.