Darwin Awards - The Jesus Edition

Since 1994, the Darwin Awards have held up a mirror to human folly. Their tongue-in-cheek books and web-site tell true stories of people who, as they say, ‘live in the shallow end of the gene pool’, people who 'show an astounding lack of judgment and cause their own demise'.

'Terminal stupidity', they call it, with lethal personal consequences. They cite these stories not to laugh at calamity, but as cautionary tales.

Jesus used a different metaphor, but his insight into disastrous human stupidity is just as clear. His story about the foolish carpenter and the raging river seems the perfect parable for April Fools Day!

As a carpenter Jesus knew the consequences of shoddy house-building. He probably knew peasants in the hills around Nazareth who skimped on the foundations of hasty summer-built houses only to see their investment collapse in ruins when the winter rains fell and the wadis swelled with torrential floods that tore the earth away from their doorsteps.

So he told a story about two builders. One builds wisely, anchoring his house to bedrock.  But the other is a moron – yes, that is Jesus’ exact word. Only a moron builds a house and ignores the foundation – because when raging water hits soft earth, a house had better have a solid underpinning - or it will collapse like a sand-castle.

This 'cautionary tale' works because life-storms happen - to everyone -  misfortune rains down, sickness clobbers us, financial loss and broken friendships mock our well-crafted stability; tsunamis-of-the-soul  rock our world often when we’re least prepared. And never far away lurks the dark spectre of Death.  Jesus was right.  Storms happen; the river is rising as we speak. Is your foundation up to test? 

So Jesus gave us practical, down-to-earth directions for living well, not a curriculum of religious rituals or a secret mantras, but a way of life patterned after his own that can withstand the rigors of the storm. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24

To Jesus the Darwin award goes to the man or woman who hears his counsel for life but never puts it into practice. Maybe even teaches a Bible study, but as the old Irish proverb says, “Nodding the head does not row the boat.” A newer proverb says, “Just do it!” Dallas Willard calls it ‘apprenticing ourselves to Jesus’, actively doing what Jesus says.  There's no greater tragedy in life, no greater folly, than walking away from Jesus.  

But when you build the teachings of Jesus into the foundation of your life, you find yourself with a vibrant heart for God and neighbor, a grace that can forgive because it knows the joy of being forgiven, and other habits of the heart that stabilize you in the day of upheaval. And we have Jesus’ own assurance that it will withstand the ultimate test of existence, the scrutiny and judgment of God.

Lord of down-to-earth spirituality,
Whenever I retreat into imagining that my beliefs are my reality, give my foundations a shake. Remind me that “superficial discipleship will collapse”. Help me to build my life consistently on the pattern of Jesus. Amen.