B, Post Pentecost 25 Proper 27 - Psalm 127 "Little Pigs"

We all know the tale of the three little pigs who built three houses to protect themselves from the big bad wolf. 

A house of straw was built by the first pig whose labours proved nothing for the big bad wolf to huff and puff and blow the house down.  He runs to the second pig who built his house of sticks.  But his house also succumbs to the wind of the wolf, albeit with a few extra huffs and puffs.  They then find shelter in the third house that their brother had built out of bricks. 

The wolf cannot blow the house down and is tricked into climbing down the chimney with the idea he can devour the three little pigs once inside.  However, at the bottom of the chimney is a boiling pot of water put there by the pigs.  The wolf is scalded to death in the boiling cauldron and as nursery rhymes go, they all live happily ever after.

The three pigs now live without fear, trusting in what they’ve achieved, to pursue whatever they desire to do.  Like winning the lottery, they live limited only by what they can imagine. 

Fast forward to a time in the future.  Where are those three, aged pensioner pigs now?  How have they fared in the wake of the wolf?

They’ve got families now!  Little pigs upon little pigs litter their properties!  Prosperity has also seen the three little pig enterprise grow into a massive operation.  In the eyes of many outside the organisation, these three porkers of pleasure have become what the big bad wolf was, ruling their kingdom in their power and glory.

But really, how healthy are the three pigs?  Yes! They have become masters of their domain.  Yet all three live in suspicion of each other.  The two pigs that fled to the third pigs house of brick, ride on the rigorous planning and work the third little pig always seems to produce.  Two pensioner pigs and their families live in laziness, loving the life afforded to them by their brother.  But this third little pig resents them for their life of ease while he, a workaholic, can’t stop building and planning for the future.

But his work has taken its toll!  The stress of keeping his enterprise afloat sees him riddled with cancer with days to live.  There’s a new big bad wolf in the house and he can’t escape it.  Nor is it any better for the other two and their families.  Their life of luxury sees them suffering from all the diseases of a delightful life.  Now that their brother is dying, and his children will inherit the dynasty, they will not be able to continue affording the medications that mediate their lives.  Their attitude to working and life is so engrained they now resent the third pig as a big bad wolf for not giving them more of what they have selfishly taken.

As listeners and observers of this extended fable, built on the three little pig nursery rhyme, you will have identified with events that have recently occurred in the media, the community, and perhaps even your own life.  If not the events, perhaps the health struggles, or the feelings with which you daily deal, living with others.

We are all builders of some sort.  It’s in our DNA to build stuff.  We get this from God, our Heavenly Father.  He is the eternal builder; he created heaven and earth!  Yet what we build shows that although we get the gift to build from God, we use it in a way that does not please God.

In Psalm 127, King Solomon the builder of the temple in Jerusalem, raises up the reality that the Lord God is the true builder and keeper, and the consequences for us when we usurp him.  As we’ve heard, Solomon says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:1–2 ESV)

Three times we hear that unless it comes from God, works are worked in vain.  In fact, this word, “vain”, means a deed of destruction rather than construction, and a deed that brings desolation rather than habitation.

Unless the Lord builds, those who build, construct with destruction.  Unless the Lord watches, those who watch, watch their destruction.  It is for desolation that you rise early and delay rest to carve your idols.  To “carve your idols” is the literal meaning of “eating the bread of anxious toil”.

We all pray to our Father, “your kingdom come”.  However, how often are we led into the temptation to build our own kingdoms?  But for what?  Solomon spells out the reality… vanity that leads to destruction and desolation!

If we return to the three little pigs there are three shelters built, a straw house, a house of sticks and a building of bricks.

Those of us who build straw houses trust in things that are short lived.  So much of what’s relied on today are straw houses built for immediate gratification.  Here today gone tomorrow, knowingly temporary at best.  The easy road that leads to destruction.

Then some build houses of sticks, that are transitory as well.  They might last a lifetime.  However, they too become dwellings of destruction and desolation.

Those who trust in the first two dwellings, do so to their detriment.  Trusting in the third dwelling brings destruction too but it’s different, it’s built of brick!  This is the place where most dwell, having fled the transient houses which have not served us well in this life.  But this house of brick that seemingly protects us from the big bad wolf, that seemingly drowns all the big bad desires in life, is actually the dwelling in which the spirit of our destructive desires, seeks its daily resurrection in those who trust in its walls.

The fairytale temptation to build our own kingdom might seem all good in a house of brick.  But the house remains to decay in this world, long after your frame has decayed in its grave.

Unless the Lord, our Father, builds the house, we do so in vain!  The kingdom, the power, and the glory are his, not ours!  What kingdom are you building for yourself?  As I’ve mentioned, we’re all builders, it’s in our nature!  But what does your building exalt?  What god is glorified?  In what kingdom is your trust?  Whose power is working in your world? 

In this Psalm God invites you to look into yourself and see the kingdom you’re building, the power with which one builds it, and for whose glory you’re building it!  In his word God reveals human construction as destruction and humanity’s efforts for habitation as bringing desolation.

The second half of Psalm 127 Solomon speaks about habitation, through producing children.  We hear, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3–5 ESV)

It seems the little pigs after surviving the big bad wolf, set about making more little pigs!  Many in the church today see the future of the church as children. 

So, by the will of man children are produces, by the will of man children are thought of as the church, and by the will of man the children flee the straw idol that’s been constructed for them in the fairytale minds of others.  Every child of God is presented with a kingdom coming, then they’re encouraged to embrace the straw, stick, or a brick kingdom that’s not built by God!  Some reject these, only to flee to other fairytale dwellings.  But some realise the grave reality of our situation, trusting what our Maker tells us in his Word!

The reality of the matter is this:  pigs don’t build houses!  That’s a fairytale!  Likewise, humans don’t build heaven!  Worse than a fairytale, building your kingdom is a deceptive lie that brings eternal desolation and despair!  When one tries to build heaven, they’re just creating a place in hell!  The kingdoms we humans believe we’re building are myths and mirages, vanities that lead to destruction, desolation and despair.  In a huff and a puff these houses are blown down forever! 

Still, there’s another little pig who didn’t build a house, nor ran away, but allowed himself to be built as the foundation and cornerstone of the Father’s eternal house.  He was nailed to a tree in time,  even though he was with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the beginning to create all things.  In this holy house, God’s house, the devil is truly cooked!  He knows it!  And he rages in these last days to deliver as many as possible into destruction and desolation!

However, you are holy bricks in this holy house of God!  If you believe in the Cornerstone, you have the right to be God’s children. You are the bricks being baked and built into the eternal kingdom of God!  Gathered together and built by the Holy Spirit into an eternal dwelling!  Built into a holy place where Jesus is worshipped through repentance of sin, confessed that he is the resurrection and the life, for the forgiveness of your sins and the sins of those around you.

As God builds you into his house, you’re in his kingdom, in all his glory, in all his power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.