Jesus was a carpenter but in his sayings and parables he often used shepherding, farming and fishing images, sheep, seeds and boats. This fact enables us to understand that Jesus spoke with the people in terms of their own experience: not many would have been carpenters but many indeed would have been shepherds, farmers, fishermen or housewives. Thus he used images from ordinary life such as would resonate with at least some of the people listening to him: losing a sheep, losing a coin, baking bread, lighting a lamp at nightfall, borrowing from a neighbour.

Jesus speaks about building a house on firm foundations. We may wonder if Jesus or his listeners ever experienced such a disaster as a house collapsing in a storm or earthquake. Even if we ourselves have no direct experience of such an event, we all know of similar disasters throughout the world: tsunamis and earthquakes, mine disasters. In his wisdom, Jesus always spoke realistically and concretely, never merely theoretically.

When disasters do occur, many of us tend to ask why. With Jesus as our teacher, we should rather learn many different truths from such disasters, including both physical and spiritual truths.