The Architect

Matthew 27:24 - Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an architect. At very least I enjoyed drawing houses, which I assumed was basically what an architect did. Dream about a house, sketch it into existence, send it to the builder. Boom. House done.

In reality an architect has to think about far more than just what a building will look like. They have to be aware of how the building is built so that it is not just beautiful, but functional. They have to know what materials to use so that their design is safe and won’t collapse. They need to know how those materials can be arranged in such a way that the building ultimately achieves their vision and can be enjoyed for years to come.

A couple of years ago I learned that Jesus was most likely a stone mason. Like most of us, I grew up being taught and believing that Jesus was a carpenter. Yet the language used of Jesus, the locale in which he lived, and the materials available to him all seem to point towards Jesus working with stone. In my head, I took that to mean that Jesus was doing the same sort of work as a carpenter–building chairs, tables, and such–but he was just carving them out of stone rather than assembling them with wood. Then a friend suggested something different: Jesus was a builder of houses.

This was the most common occupation for a stone mason, and if that was true of Jesus, then Jesus would have been very familiar with the work of architects. In fact, he may have even been the architect. It makes a lot of sense when you read the New Testament and see how often Jesus refers to stones, buildings, houses, towers, and particularly, how to ensure they don’t collapse around you.

If we were applying this to our lives (and we should be), the simplistic thing to ask ourselves might be, “who is the architect of your life”, but that’s not really the right question. Asking ourselves who the architect is makes it seem as if there can be alternatives to the structure of our lives, but that’s not really accurate. God has already given us the blueprint. In Jesus story about the houses built on the rock and the sand, he makes clear that the same set of instructions was given to both builders. The problem was that one of the builders ignored the architect.

The better question is, “are we following the architect’s instructions?” As the Psalmist reminds us, “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”