Rejected Stones
All of us have experienced some form of rejection at some point in our lives. Think about a time when you were rejected and what you experienced. When people tell us in word or attitude or action that we are unacceptable or unworthy or unnecessary it is a terrible thing indeed to be rejected.
1. Israel, the Rejected Stones
In Old Testament times, the Jews were a rejected people. The powerful and mighty nations of the world looked down at them. They dismissed Israel as an unimportant and dishonored people. But God had a different plan. They were the least of the nations but God chose them. He saved them again and again. Psalm 118 is a song of thanksgiving focusing on God’s goodness and enduring love. Israel and their king were in distress. They were surrounded by all the nations. They were threatened and rejected. But God saved them. He became their salvation (vv 14, 21). God turned the rejected stones into important stones. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (v 22).
In ancient times the chief cornerstone was the most important stone in the entire building. It had to be selected with special care. It established the building’s ground level. It assured that the foundation would be solid. It carried the weight of the building pressing on it from two directions. It ensured that all the other stones would be kept in line, straight, level, and secure. Israel rejected and despised by the other nations were rejected stones. But God saved them and gave them a very important task. He chose them to be the world’s cornerstone. They were to be a blessing for all the nations.
When Jesus tells this parable of the tenants He is speaking to the same Jews. They were supposed to be cornerstones. They were supposed to be the moral, ethical and religious compass of humanity. They were supposed to be holy, to live as God’s people so that they could point the other nations to the holy, living God. Their only responsibility was to be faithful and righteous but along the way, they became compromised. They rejected God and his ways. They rejected, shattered the stones of his covenant. Again and again God sent prophets to remind Israel of their calling and responsibility but they rejected them, ridiculed them, and in some cases, even killed the prophets. And through this parable, Jesus tells them that they would even reject and kill the Son of God.
2. Jesus, the Rejected Stone Became the Cornerstone
Jesus, the Stone rejected by Israel and the world became the Chief Cornerstone. The words of the psalmist have come full circle. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12). He is the only Savior. He is the foundation upon which the Kingdom of God rests. He gives the kingdom to those who will produce its fruit (Mt 21:43). For those that do not believe and disobey Him, He is the stone that causes people to stumble and the rock that makes them fall (1 Pet 2:8). “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed” (Mt 21:44).
He became the most important stone in the church. He alone holds the church together. We “are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph 2:19-22). Jesus Christ, the rejected stone is the Chief Cornerstone of the whole of creation — “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17).
3. We Reject Jesus as Our Cornerstone
We can criticize the Jews all we want but then … then we realize that many times we too reject Jesus as the Cornerstone of our lives. And before you react and say no, that’s not true, let us examine this a bit. We may worship Jesus in our formal religious services on Sundays. We may worship Jesus in our daily personal devotions. But what happens when we walk out of the church, close our Bibles, and say amen to our prayers? What is really going on in our hearts and minds as we live our daily lives? Who or what is the real cornerstone of our lives?
To help us answer that, let us explore two questions: (1) What is the most important thing in your life? (2) What has you in its hold? Don’t answer too quickly. We should do this honestly and prayerfully, and not give the “Christian” answer we know is right but what is really going on in our hearts. So, let’s go deeper with these two questions.
(1) What is the most important thing in your life? Each of us has something that is a priority in our life. Here is a spiritual exercise we can do. List the six most important things in your life. Now take two away. What would you have left? Take two more away. You see the dilemma. When you get down to that one final thing, that thing that you say is most valuable, that becomes the cornerstone of your life, that becomes the God of your life or the idol of your life. You may say, “This is really a silly exercise. We are not faced with such choices.” But we are, on a daily basis. We have become so accustomed to and so good at rationalizing our sins, disobedience, and behavior, that we don’t see it as rejecting Jesus. Let’s go further and examine the second question.
(2) What has you in its hold? To help you with this question answer the following questions, again, with brutal honesty — What do you feel you can’t live without? What has the ability to make or break your day? What has the power to make you very sad? What can produce almost instant happiness? What tends to control your wishes? What do others have that causes you to envy? If you could get just one thing, what would it be? What does your use of money tell you about what’s important to you? What fills your fantasies and your dreams? What would the videos of your last six weeks reveal about what has you in its hold? What would your posts on social media and your Internet activity reveal about what is most important to you? What idols tempt and attract you most? Is there a place where you’re asking the creation to do what only the Creator can? And now you are ready to answer the real question — What do you need to give up to root the idols out of your heart?
Here’s the core of the struggle: as long as sin still resides in our hearts, we will have an inclination to ask the physical creation to do for us what the Creator alone is able to do. Looking to creation to do what it was not meant to do will not only disappoint us; it will enslave us. Idols never just disappoint us; they addict us as well. What we tightly hold onto takes hold of us, now commanding of us what only God should ever command: our hearts. And what holds our hearts will dictate our words and behavior. In this life and in this world, sin creeps up on us and seizes us. Before we know it, we are in its hold. Later we look back with regret. We tell ourselves, “I will do better next time,” only to reject Jesus again a little further down the road. This is sadly the repeating drama of all of us living between the “already” and the “not yet.”
4. Come to the Cross and Groan
Therefore, we should come to the cross and groan. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Ro 8:22-23).
Groaning is good, right, and spiritually healthy. But unfortunately, it can also be spiritually unhealthy when we groan for the wrong reasons. We most often groan because we have not gotten our own way. We groan because something or someone has gotten in our way. Our groaning is a symptom of our ongoing desire to be the gods of our own lives so as to guarantee that we will get the pleasures, treasures, and comforts that we have set our hearts on. Sadly, so much of our groaning is self-oriented frustration that ends up making us despondent, depressed, discouraged, and bitter.
Our groaning is either anger that we have not gotten our way or a cry that God would get his holy, loving, wise, and righteous way. Groaning is either, “Will my kingdom ever come?” or it is a cry to God saying, “Your kingdom come.”
Lent is a season for groaning. Examine your heart, your thoughts, and your desires. Examine your words, behavior, and your life. Examine the struggles of the people around you and the world we live in. And you will find a reason to groan. Let the sadness of sin drive you once again to the cross where your Savior groaned aloud on our behalf as He bore the horrible weight of sin.
During this Lent come again to cross. Let the cross teach us and remind us of who we are, and so humble us anew. The cross teaches us what we are dealing with and what we need. Under the shadow of the cross, we recognize that the greatest enemy we face is the enemy of sin within us. Under the shadow of the cross, we quit pointing fingers and begin crying out for help. The cross teaches us that sin is our problem and that grace, the rescuing, forgiving, transforming, and delivering grace of Christ is the only answer to our sin problem.
5. The Living Stone Changes Us into Living Stones
So, come to the cross because at the cross Jesus Christ, the rejected stone became the Living Stone and He transforms us into living stones so that we are no longer rejected stones. 1 Peter 2:4-6,9-10 — As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” … But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Come to the cross because it teaches us who God is. It teaches us that God does not look at sinners with disdain or disgust, but with generous and tender love. The cross teaches us that we do not have to clean up our act to come to God. We only need to come in humble confession and repentance. The cross teaches us that when we sin, God doesn’t greet us with condemnation, but with a reminder once again of the completeness of his forgiveness. The cross allows unholy people to look in the face of a holy God and have hope.
Come to the cross. It teaches us what God offers us — the one thing that no other person or thing can. He offers us the grace of forgiveness. He offers us the grace of welcome into a relationship with him. He offers us the grace of personal transformation. He offers us the grace of a new identity and new potential. He offers us the grace of a glorious and fully secured destiny. Yes, he offers us grace upon grace!
On the cross, Jesus Christ was the rejected Stone on our behalf so that we are no longer rejected stones. On the cross, He became the Chief Cornerstone. He became the Living Stone, and He changed us, rejected stones, into living stones. And with these living stones He is building his Church and his Kingdom in this world. He sends us into the world to be His cornerstones for the world.
Once again, you hold in your hands a stone. It's an important stone because it is symbolic of Jesus as the cornerstone of our lives. Maybe you need to lay this stone at the foot of the cross, as an indication of the times you have rejected Jesus. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you will take that stone home with you. If in your honest self-examination, you believe that you have not rejected Jesus in your daily living, then please take the stone home. But I know what I must do.