1 Peter 2: 4-5
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in
God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Matthew 21:
42, a quote of Psalm 118: 22, “the stone rejected by the builders has become
the cornerstone…” Peter remembers Jesus
quoting the Psalms, slightly paraphrased for use that he has for them. Jesus is the living stone, rejected by
mortals, but chosen and precious in God’s sight…
Rejected by
mortals…leading to his death on the cross.
What a painful contrast to the Jesus who is precious in God’s
sight. What was it for God to release
Jesus to us that he might die on our behalf?
We know of God’s love for us. The
bible tells us so.
One of the
most painful passages to read in the gospels is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In that moment, he asks God to release him
from the plan that is to come, not that Jesus’ will be done, but that God’s
will be done. And God does not release
him. Now I have read of people who
consider God to be cold for that moment.
But can we imagine instead that our God felt pain because of His love
for us?
A military
commander knows that the young soldiers he is currently watching, the pride of
their nation and their generation, he knows many will not be coming home because
of the mission that they are about to embark upon.
A police
commander looks over the outgoing shift of officers gathered in the muster room
and must face the real possibility that, on any given day, something might
happen to one of these individuals.
Can these
images begin to capture what was in our God’s heart? We are like him, knowing good and evil. We are created in his image and we can know
pain. Even in his knowledge and ability
to raise Jesus from the dead, we have it from Jesus himself that weeping is not
out of the question. Jesus knew his
friend Lazarus would arise, but he wept at his graveside.
How precious
are we in God’s sight that he would send the living stone to be among us, that
we might live?
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