Rejected By Mortals...Only To Save The Mortals...That Is What I Call Ironic!

1 Peter 2: 7-8a

⁷To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner’, and ‘A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.’

The architectural metaphor has been built, Jesus is the rock (and he rolls my blues away, shebop, shebop-fun song).  But that stone, that living stone, rejected by mortals but accepted by God, is coming around again, this time into the realm of the unbeliever. 

This quote comes from the Psalms, 118:22, another descriptor of God’s power.  Here, Peter integrates it into his sentence.  It does not seem to be an illustration of his point, but rather to be read directly,

‘for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected (Jesus-just referenced in the last sentence); the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.  I think it is safe to assume that Peter would agree that the unbelievers and the builders have both rejected the stone (Jesus).  Jesus, the stone, comes right into the paths of the unbeliever. That which was rejected is now something that gets in the way of those who do not believe.

Peter is not speculating that Jesus simply converts people in this description.  Rather, for those who do not believe, Jesus is not someone they can simply dismiss out of hand.  Jesus stands in their way.  Mahatma Gandhi was a great proponent of Jesus, knew his life and his process very well.  It was integral to the campaign of non-violence he waged against the British. 

Yet he never came into the Christian faith in a formal way because of his experiences with the White South African churches under apartheid. 

Jesus gets in the way.  His unconditional love, his total sacrifice, his giving all, yet his ability to stand up to the leaders of the day, even to the point of anger and violence in defending his Father’s house, that is hard to reject.  I remember an interview with, of all people, John Cleese of Monty Python fame, condemnatory and rejecting of the Church of England, but Jesus was another matter.