The Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24–27; Luke 6:46–49)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 34 (on Luke 6:46–49) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_03_sermons_26_38.htm

Cyril gives the Lord's words as his text:

Every one that cometh unto Me, and heareth My words, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug and made it deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when there was a flood, the river beat against that house, and could not shake it, because it was well built.

On the calling of Christ "Lord" that must become obedience:

If therefore we call Christ, the Saviour of us all, Lord, let us do the things which He says. For He teaches us Himself what the benefit is of our being willing to do that which is commanded: and what the loss of our refusing to obey: for He says, Every one that heareth My words and doeth them, is like a man who builds a house, and firmly places its foundations upon the rock: while he who does not obey, he also is like a man building a house, but who has taken no care for its stability.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 24 (on Matthew 7:21–27) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200124.htm

On why the wise builder is rewarded already in this life, not only the next:

What they shall suffer who do not (although they work miracles), you have heard; but you should know also what such as obey all these sayings shall enjoy; not in the world to come only, but even here. For "whosoever," says He, "hears these sayings of mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man."

On the rock as the steadfastness of Christ's teaching, and the storms as the afflictions of life:

By "rain" here, and "floods," and "winds," He is expressing metaphorically the calamities and afflictions that befall men; such as false accusations, plots, bereavements, deaths, loss of friends, vexations from strangers, all the ills in our life that any one could mention. But to none of these, says He, does such a soul give way; and the cause is, it is founded on the rock. He calls the steadfastness of His doctrine a rock; because in truth His commands are stronger than any rock, setting one above all the waves of human affairs.

On hearing as insufficient without obedience:

Though the things spoken be good, hearing is not sufficient for security, but there is need also of obedience in actions, and the whole lies chiefly in this.

On the folly of the man who builds on sand:

And well did He call this man "foolish": for what can be more senseless than one building a house on the sand, and while he submits to the labor, depriving himself of the fruit and refreshment, and instead thereof undergoing punishment? For that they too, who follow after wickedness, do labor, is surely manifest to every one.

On the greatness of the fall:

And it does not merely fall, but with great calamity: for "great indeed," He says, "was the fall of it." The risk not being of trifles, but of the soul, of the loss of Heaven, and those immortal blessings.

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St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the sand as the unstable foundation of false teaching:

On sand which is loose and cannot be bound into one mass, all the doctrine of heretics is built so as to fall.

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St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the rising assault of the storm as the stages of temptation:

By the showers He signifies the allurements of smooth and gently invading pleasures, with which the faith is at first watered as with spreading rills, afterwards comes down the rush of torrent floods, that is, the motions of fiercer desire, and lastly, the whole force of the driving tempests rages against it, that is, the universal spirits of the Devil's reign attack it.

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Blessed Augustine (i Hiponit) (354–430)

From his Sermon on the Mount, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the storms read as the evils that assail the soul:

Rain, when it is put to denote any evil, is understood as the darkness of superstition; rumours of men are compared to winds; the flood signifies the lust of the flesh, as it were flowing over the land, and because what is brought on by prosperity is broken off by adversity.

On the doer alone standing unmoved:

None of these things does he fear who has his house founded upon a rock, that is, who not only hears the command of the Lord, but who also does it. And in all these he submits himself to danger, who hears and does not. For no man confirms in himself what the Lord commands, or himself hears, but by doing it.

On the whole Sermon as the rock of the Christian life:

He shews plainly enough that this sermon is made complete by all those precepts by which the Christian life is formed, so that with good reason they that desire to live according to them, may be compared to one that builds on a rock.