Understanding

Understanding

Matthew 21:42, NIV

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’?”

Luke 20:16-18, NIV

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” 17Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Setting the Scene

We can identify three distinct audiences for this exchange: Jesus’ disciples, the priestly delegation, and the mixed crowd in the Temple that day. Jesus had just ended his story in a way that seemed to transition from illustration to reality. The story began in the past; Jesus’ closing question, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” (Luke 20:15, NIV) is present and future. And when Jesus supplies the answer, “He will come and kill those tenants” (20:16, NIV), the crowd’s instinctive response is to cry for an alternate ending. In Luke’s account, they cry out, “God forbid!”

In Matthew’s and Mark’s versions, Jesus ends his parable of the tenants and immediately quotes Psalm 118:22-23, referring to a very familiar passage for the Passover pilgrims. The verses about the rejected stone come immediately before the phrases from the same psalm that had been shouted about Jesus during the Triumphal Entry. Apparently the theme of rejection in the psalm had been neglected by the enthusiastic crowd in teaching in favor of the theme of welcome.

Matthew and Luke include Jesus’ ominous words, “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed” (Luke 20:18, NIV; see Matthew 21:44). The stone remains the same, but people’s relation to it may be radically different. It can be the capstone (cornerstone) of life, a stone we trip over, or a stone that crushes. Sooner or later, everyone must encounter the stone. Jesus was unmistakably presenting his credentials to that mixed audience, to be taken or rejected, but with eternal consequences riding on the choice.

Getting Personal

Think of someone who rejected Jesus only to turn to him later as Lord. What happened?

What difficult requests of Jesus trip you up today?

In one important sense we must experience the stoniness of Jesus before we can appreciate his foundation and cornerstone role in our lives. In this way, “tripping” over him can have a good result, if our brokenness involves our will, pride, and anything that ought to be broken in us.

Talking to God

Affirm that the Lord is the capstone and cornerstone of your life: the capstone holding it together and the cornerstone providing a solid foundation.