Matthew 7:24-27

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (New Living Translation)

The Crooked House pub was originally built as a farmhouse in 1765. In the nineteenth century extensive mining for coal in the area, which was a distinctive feature of the development of the Black Country industrial landscape, led to progressive subsidence, with the building eventually sinking by as much as four feet on its left hand, southern side. Eventually huge brick buttresses were put in place to stabilise the building. As you can see from the two images, it is a place that defies architectural and geometric convention to give the visitor a baffling sense of disorientation before ever a pint is consumed. Of course some of the effects of subsidence upon the structure of the building have been deliberately exaggerated after the fact to maximise the impact upon the contemporary visitor. Nevertheless, the Crooked House is as good an example of the dire effects of mining subsidence as you could wish to find. It looks forever on the verge of imminent collapse.

An abiding concern for the imminent collapse of the sense of self-worth, self-esteem and life chances of those around him, whether driven by illness, poverty or the brutalities of Rome and the indifference of the governing elites, coupled with a passion to challenge everything that undermined their ability to flourish, is a defining characteristic of Jesus’ ministry. It is the essence of his Kingdom thinking, teaching and action. Reading the gospels you are continually confronted by personal, political, religious and socially undermining forces at work underneath the surface of daily life. The distorting effects of these pernicious forces, and the individual and collective subsidence of the human spirit caused by them, are all too obvious in the biblical narratives. Pain, anguish, torment and struggle are the very visible surface indicators of such subsidence.

Wherever you look in the gospels, little is as it should or could be. So much is crooked, out of kilter and in a parlous state, not least the interior lives of the majority of those drawn to the empathy, unconditional acceptance and hope offered so wonderfully by Jesus. These people need to be buttressed by the love of God present in Jesus. They feel within themselves the forces of psychological and moral subsidence at work, undermining their self-worth, self-esteem and life chances. They recognise Jesus as the only one who can keep them together, strengthening their sense of self and identity, so that they do not collapse and go under. And so many of us stand where they stood. I know I do.

In his parable of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus contrasts the bedrock, which protects against disruption, subsidence and structural failure, and sand, which conveys none of these advantages, but is inherently a liability. Faith in his teaching and in him, and living it out daily in the company of others with hopeful expectation, are what he offers to keep us solid grounded. The loving presence of Jesus is the essential buttress if we are to keep subsidence at bay.

No matter how crooked the house of our living and longing has become, no matter how undermined we know ourselves to be, Jesus counteracts all that would lead to our collapse with the unceasing and unlimited power of God’s grace. In particular, those long-standing, habitual ways of thinking, rooted in negative self-talk and low self-esteem, which so undermine our capacity for enduring contentment and peace, are no match for the robust love of God, which has the capacity to keep them at bay, nullifying their insidious familiarity and rendering them impotent.