This week there is not a passage between last Sunday’s lesson and the coming Sunday so we will jump ahead to a teaching of Christ from his last week in Jerusalem. 

Matthew 21:42-46. Verse 42 gives us a powerful analogy of Jesus’ position: “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

If you did not know, in constructing a building, the corners receive the most stress and weight.  So when building with stone the corner block at the base has to be able to bear the weight and stress of the walls that connect to it without breaking or moving.   A builder would be careful to select a perfect stone in shape, size, and structure of the block, no cracks and the striations in the best alignment for the corner stone. For without the strong cornerstone, the wall will collapse. 

In this short quote from Psalm 118:22-23, Jesus lets the Chief Priest and Pharisees know that he is the strong stone that they have rejected, and he will be the one upon whom the faith stands. 

Our friends in the Jewish faith worshiped in the Temple; their faith was centered there as the one true place for sacrificial worship.  Without the Temple on the Mount in Jerusalem, their faith continues but the practice of the faith is missing its cornerstone. 

In the rest of the passage from Mathew 21, Jesus warns them that the Kingdom of God that had rested on their worship at the temple would be taken and given to others who would produce fruit.  The same warning still stands for us.  If we do not produce fruit, by living into and inviting others into the kingdom we will lose that which we have and others will take it up.  That is to say if any church or denomination ceases to bear fruit it will fail and crumble and the mission it has will be given to others. 

This is reminiscent of Luke 19:39-40 “39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ 40 He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”

We cannot be silent; we must proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Holy One, the Sinless One, our Savior.  To do less is to invite the blessing to pass to others.

Peace,

Burt