The Treasury of the Inner Self

Living into the idea that what you do today matters tomorrow.

Blessed fourth Sunday in Lent to you. I pray as you gather with some component of Christ’s Church today, he is ever close to you and those with whom you worship.

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My wife was listening to a sermon online the other day and a line jumped out to me as I overheard. The pastor was preaching on Christ and the cross when he said: “Jesus wasn’t alone on his worst day because he was connected all the other days.”

It’s true. Though he certainly felt the brutality of what was happening, both physically and emotionally…though he cried out in the garden and from the cross itself, resonating with the psalmist’s forlornness, Jesus was able to stick through with the plan because he had some element of confidence that God his father would have him in the end.

And God did.

I always loved the story of Joseph in Genesis. I read it over and over as a kid. I’m reminded of that dream he interpreted for Pharaoh wherein the whole nation was saved during a seven year drought because of storing and planning during the seven years of fruitfulness.

That is the wisdom Jesus is pointing toward at the end of this passage. The difference between the one who builds on rock and the one who builds on sand is not the storm. Both houses face it. (Isn’t that what we’ve been noting in Job all along?)

The difference is what has been formed beforehand. A life shaped by trust, obedience, and connection to God becomes a kind of foundation that can hold when the waters rise. Jesus’ teaching here is not merely about hearing good words, but about living them long before the flood arrives. When suffering, confusion, or hardship finally come - and they always do - it is that deep and steady foundation that keeps a life from collapsing.

It brings us back to Job chapter 1 where we were told that Job did exactly these things. He spent his previous life - as gilded as it may have seen - in devotion to God. Practicing his faith through sacrificial worship. Praying (even for the “unknown” sins of his children!). And living uprightly and righteously.

This is the Way. Building up the treasury of the inner self. It won’t answer all the questions of suffering when it comes. But it just may be what we need to get through it.

Luke 6:43-49

“A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don’t gather figs from thorny plants, nor do they pick grapes from prickly bushes. A good person produces good from the good treasury of the inner self, while an evil person produces evil from the evil treasury of the inner self. The inner self overflows with words that are spoken.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I say? I’ll show what it’s like when someone comes to me, hears my words, and puts them into practice. It’s like a person building a house by digging deep and laying the foundation on bedrock. When the flood came, the rising water smashed against that house, but the water couldn’t shake the house because it was well built. But those who don’t put into practice what they hear are like a person who built a house without a foundation. The floodwater smashed against it and it collapsed instantly. It was completely destroyed.”

Prayer (Collect from the Book of Common Prayer, 4th Sunday in Lent)

Gracious Father,

Whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven
to be the true bread which gives life to the world:
Evermore give us this bread,
that he may live in us, and we in him;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever.

Amen.