THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Thursday in the First Week of Advent, 2022 

Isa 26:1-6

Ps 118

Matt 7:21, 24-27

Everyone who listens...and acts

The image of rock is to be found in both readings this morning. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the Lord as the everlasting rock. Like a rock, the Lord is enduring and faithful. Therefore, he can be relied upon; he can be trusted. If we come across a substantial outcrop of rock one day, we know that it will be there again the next day, and the following day, and long after we have gone, just as it was there long before we were born. In speaking of God as a Rock the people of Israel were trying to capture that sense of the reliability, durability, the faithfulness of God. God can be relied upon; he can be trusted. 

This morning’s gospel reading (Mt 7:24-27) was taken from the gospel of Matthew. At the beginning of his gospel, Matthew gives Jesus the title Emmanuel, God-with-us. As God with us, Jesus embodies the reliability, the faithfulness of God. He has that rock-like quality of God; he is with us to the end of time. In this morning’s gospel reading he declares that those who build their lives on what he says, those who listen to his word and keep it, will be building their lives on the rock. He is the reliable foundation of our lives and if we give ourselves over to his word and his presence we will draw from his strength especially when the storms of life threaten to engulf us.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the only foundation that can hold us up when trials and disasters threaten us. May we be doers of your word and not hearers only. Amen.

+Remain blessed