WHEN OUR KIDS were small, there was a children’s song based on the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Naturally, it came complete with hand motions. “The rain came down,” the kids would sing, raising their hands in the air and bringing them down while wiggling their fingers. “And the floods came up,” they’d sing, palms upward, raising their hands again. It was a happy little song, just the thing to get an audience of parents to smile and applaud.

But there was nothing happy about Jesus’ warning. Here’s how Matthew has Jesus finishing the sermon:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (Matt 7:25-27, NIV)

As with the other three warnings, Jesus is predicting disaster for anyone who doesn’t listen to and obey his teaching. Again, there’s symmetry in the warnings. The middle two were about false prophets and false disciples. But bracketing those warnings are two others that offer his hearers a choice. The first choice was about two gates opening onto two roads leading to two destinations: life on the one hand, and destruction on the other. Similarly, the final warning, which we just read, presents the metaphorical choice between two ways to build a house. Will his hearers choose the wise or the foolish option?

I LIVE IN Southern California, and nowhere near the coast. We don’t get much rain where I am compared to other places, so we never have floods here, though flood watches happen from time to time in the areas closer to the desert. The more relevant dangers in my region are wildfires and high winds, and the combination of the two can be deadly.

But there’s one natural threat shared by the entire state of California: earthquakes. To some degree, all Californians live with an ever-present question that hovers vaguely in the back of their consciousness: when will the “big one” hit? We’re reminded with every little tremor.

All homes here are built on solid foundations. But some older homes may not be properly secured to the foundations they have and need to be retrofitted. No matter how solidly the house itself may be built, no matter how deep and sturdy the foundation, if the house slides off the foundation in an earthquake, the building will fall. Things seem sturdy, but the quality and durability of the construction can’t really be known without it being tested. It’s like the old joke about Christians being like teabags; you don’t know what they’re really like until you get them in hot water.

Jesus is describing a situation his hearers would have understood. In arid climates, sudden storms, with their high winds and heavy rains, can make typically dry wadis swell into rivers and cause flash flooding. People who live in such areas have a choice between a wise and a foolish way to build. Just as every new home in Southern California must be constructed according to strict seismic standards to withstand earthquakes, so too should every home in Jesus’ time and place be built to withstand wind, rain, and flood. Wise people may not know when these things are coming, but they know that they’re coming sooner or later, and they want to be prepared.

Foolish people, however, don’t take the trouble. They may build beautiful looking homes, but appearances are no substitute for foundations. Everything may seem fine — until trouble comes. And if we read Jesus’ final warning in the context of his other warnings as we should, that trouble is the final judgment.

People may seem to follow Torah in the way the Pharisees taught. They may engage in conspicuous acts of religious piety. They may prophesy, cast out demons, and perform healing miracles. They may call Jesus “Lord” and even do wonders in his name. But if they don’t do the Father’s will by heeding what Jesus has taught in the sermon, Jesus will send them away, saying he doesn’t know them.

THIS FINAL WARNING of Jesus is reminiscent of an oracle from the prophet Ezekiel. Through the prophet, God condemns the false prophets who tell the people that everything is okay when it isn’t, whitewashing sin instead of preaching repentance. What they’ve built with their lies will all come crashing down when God sends his judgment:

Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?” Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezek 13:10-14)

From the days of the Old Testament to the New, images of violent wind and rain should have spoken to God’s people. The words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount aren’t merely impressive ethical teaching by a charismatic religious figure. They are the words of God from the eternal Word of God. They convey the heart of the Law and the Prophets, sketching the kind of righteousness God has always wanted from his people.

Those who are wise see the big picture. They don’t just live for the moment by storing up earthly treasure and throwing their houses together on shifting sand. They live in the moment with an eye toward the future, knowing that a day of judgment is coming, a day in which their lives will be examined for the proper fruit. They build their lives on the teaching of Jesus like a person builds a house on a secure foundation.

Wisdom or foolishness? Life or destruction? That’s the choice Jesus puts in front of his hearers.

It’s the choice he puts in front of us.