“Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:24-27 (RSV)
A Franciscan friar, author and psychologist, who was a New Yorker, with a down to earth style of speaking, had a deep love for Jesus and a comfortable relationship with many Jewish people in New York City. He had a familiarity with Jewish culture and was respected by many rabbis, who were his close friends. He passed away ten years ago, but if anyone could lead a person to faith in Jesus, Father Benedict Groeschel could.
In one of his TV talks, he used the Yiddish word “schlep” to refer to a spiritual condition, instead of the usual use of the word. It made me laugh out loud, because I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood in Chicago, where I regularly heard and used the word “schlep.”
My parents owned a three flat apartment in that neighborhood, and we lived on the third floor, without an elevator. We did a lot of “schlepping”, up and down those three flights of stairs. A schlep is someone who is always dragging himself or things around, hauling baggage, and is always heavily burdened.
In the area of faith, Fr. Groeschel used the word schlep to describe someone who drags himself through life, with half hearted faith, carrying their burdened soul back and forth, but when it comes down to what they believe, their response is uncertain and vague. A spiritual schlep is a wishy washy believer without an anchored faith. When troubles come, it’s the person who says “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” Their faith collapses because their foundation is on sand. The friar described it as spiritual schlepitude.
I think Jesus also talked about schleps, in His parable about the man who built his house upon the sand. When the rain fell, and the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed. Jesus described the man who built his house on sand, metaphorically as a foolish man, with no solid foundation of faith to stand upon. We probably know people like this, and some may even be our relatives or close friends.
Sometimes I have even questioned the circumstances in my own life, and wondered why other people don’t have the same type of problems I’ve had. Then I realized that everyone is dealt a different set of problems to challenge their faith, and we are not to compare ourselves to others, and what matters is, what we do with whatever has been dealt to us.
When we carry burdens or attitudes around that we should give to Jesus, we become sluggish, heavy laden and can fall into a state of what the friar called schlepitude. Scripture is full of warnings to stay sober spiritually. Jesus called it a fool’s foundation of sand, and Paul also warned against a spiritual sluggishness.
He admonished the Hebrews to “not be sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12)
We need to stay alert and guard our foundation, reminding ourselves of Jesus’ words, and imitating the faith of believers who inherited God’s promises. The heroes of faith are an inspiration to us, whether they are people we read about in scripture or actual people we have known who lived their faith.
Everyone’s faith is personal, and we don’t all respond the same way to adversity, but the only important question is, “Is our foundation on the rock?” Jesus told us to listen and act on His words. Hearing and doing builds on our foundation of Jesus, who is our rock, and that’s what keeps us through the storms, winds and floods of life.
We have one life to live, and we have all received a certain measure of faith, by God’s grace. Let’s guard that seed of faith that is growing in the good soil of our heart.
Lord Jesus, we cherish our firm foundation in you, and please help us to keep growing in wisdom and faith as those who built their houses on rock. We pray for grace and faith for those who have lost the firmness of a foundation in you. Amen