Interpreting the Parables by Craig L. Blomberg

Author:Craig L. Blomberg [Blomberg, Craig L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

8.1.2 The Two Builders (Mt 7:24-27; Lk 6:47-49)

Figure 8.2

Like the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, the story of the two builders depicts a dramatic contrast between wise and foolish actions—construction that survives severe testing and that which collapses. Here the imagery is more conventional; the verdict, what one would expect. “Jesus’ audience would instantly grasp the value of building on the limestone bedrock of the hill country rather than in a sandy wadi in the wilderness—a streambed likely to gush with a fast-moving deluge after a sudden rain.”[28] The fact that people literally do erect shelters on unsafe ground and/or without adequate foundations, however, remains a poignant testi­mony to the foolishness of human behavior in the material realm and makes the parable an apt illustration of a similar lack of prep­aration in the spiritual realm.

Matthew’s version explicitly labels the two builders “wise” (Mt 7:24) and “foolish” (Mt 7:26). The word for “wise” is fro,nimoj, cognate to the word for “shrewdly” in the parable of the unjust steward (earlier, 7.7), and there may be some of that nuance here as well. The word for “foolish” is mwro,j, from the same root as the term in Matthew 5:22 where Jesus forbids calling someone a fool. In that context, however, he is giving a series of illustrations of rash, rageful speech against another person, not merely applying an accurate label to them.

In the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, Jesus’ own verdict decided between the two characters; here, the storm, a typical metaphor for judgment or crisis, decides the fate of each. In neither passage does a third lesson emerge from the source of the verdict, but its presence explains the diagrams with their possibility of a third “character.”[29] At the level of application one may undoubtedly appeal to this narrative to encourage preparation for numerous types of crises, but in his original preaching Jesus almost certainly had in mind the climactic end of the age. At the same time, the fact that the specific reward granted the wise builder is simply the preservation of his building may point to the fact that the foun­dations of spiritual structures that will endure in the world to come are laid in the present age.[30]

The parallelism in language, especially in Matthew’s version, highlights the similarities and differences between the two builders. Each builds a house, perhaps with no visible, outward differences between them. Each experiences the identical storm or flood, but one building stands while the other falls. The idea of a house on a rock vs. one on sand (Matthew), or of one with a foundation vs. one without (Luke), naturally suggests wise and foolish behavior. But without the specific comparison with those who hear Jesus’ words and do not obey them vs. those who hear and do obey, a multitude of interpretations might suggest themselves.

Thus an explanation of the imagery, here by the explicit use of simile, is necessary if the meaning of the parable is to be clear. Two rabbinic parables prove this point.

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