Read with Me
1 Peter 2:4-8 (HCSB)
Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God—you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it is contained in Scripture:
Look! I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and honored cornerstone,
and the one who believes in Him
will never be put to shame!
So honor will come to you who believe, but for the unbelieving,
The stone that the builders rejected—
this One has become the cornerstone,
and
A stone to stumble over,
and a rock to trip over.
They stumble because they disobey the message; they were destined for this.
Listen with Me
Stone is hard, enduring, the very bones of the Earth. So, it is no coincidence that the most enduring structures in the world were constructed of stone. Those who built these temples and monuments planned for them to endure through the ages. The image Peter uses here is based on the temple in Jerusalem, which still stood at the time he wrote, more than half a millennium from the time of its construction.
Every stone building had a cornerstone, the first stone that was put in place after the foundation was laid out. The cornerstone was the key to the entire building’s location and orientation, because every other stone was aligned with it as it was put into place.
Jesus was the cornerstone of the new edifice that was even then being built, ever expanding in size and magnificence. That building was not a new temple made of stone and precious metals. It was the Church, composed of living stones, people who had been redeemed from sin and death by the sacrificial death of Jesus, and who had been given new life, eternal life through His resurrection and His ascension to the right hand of the Father.
Even though the men in leadership over God’s people at that time had rejected Jesus, God had elevated Him to be the cornerstone, fulfilling the Scriptures Peter cites here: Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, and Isaiah 8:14, throwing into confusion those who had rejected Him. Instead of proving their spiritual superiority to Jesus, they had merely stumbled over the cornerstone which God had set in place and had bruised and broken themselves on Him. And in just a few years’ time, these same leaders would watch in horror and amazement as the stone building which they believe would last through the ages was toppled to the ground by the Romans.
Pray with Me
Father, the “elites” who rejected Jesus trusted in their own judgment, their knowledge of the Scriptures, and their adherence to the rituals of the law instead of sincerely seeking You and Your will when Jesus appeared on the scene. Some of the Pharisee did seek you, noble men such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and they ended up becoming disciples. They were willing to open their eyes and to see and experience this new and final revelation of Your being, Your grace, Your love for the people of the world. But those who rejected Jesus really did end up broken to pieces, as did the system on which they depended for their salvation. Help me, Lord, to never grow smug in my knowledge or self-satisfied in my in my status with You. Instead, help me to keep looking and seeing, and to continue hearing and listening. Because You are still speaking. Amen.