When people of old built their houses, they chose for themselves only the finest of stones. The rest they cast aside as junk, good for nothing. This is how Peter describes Jesus. He was rejected, seen as no more than a useless piece of rock. But where men saw rubble, God saw His “choice and precious stone”, and the cornerstone of His spiritual house. “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone” (vs. 7) Why is the cornerstone important? The cornerstone is the first stone set in the foundation of a home. And all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, determining the position of the entire structure.
Messiah Jesus is the Living Stone, and He calls us to become living stones ourselves, valuable parts of the foundation of God’s house. No matter who rejects us, who calls us worthless, He will not. He is our “precious value”, and sacrificed all to make us His. Knowing full well the agony He would endure, the Lord willingly and lovingly left His glorious place at the Father’s side to pay a debt He did not owe, to give us a gift we do not deserve. Jesus, “who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.” (vs. 22,24) And it is only through His great love and sacrifice that we can have eternal life. I love the quote by D.A. Carson which says, “It was not nails that held Jesus to that wretched cross; it was His unqualified resolution, out of love for his Father, to do his Father’s will—and it was His love for sinners like me.”
Jesus suffered for us. He suffered for you, for me, and for all who receive Him as their Savior. He was beaten, flogged, spit upon, ridiculed, and nailed to a Cross to die an excruciating death. It is by those wounds, that shed precious blood, in which we are healed. (vs. 24) And in those times when we feel rejected, unwanted, or useless, we need to remember who we are in Jesus. We are royalty, chosen by God to be His very own; part of a holy nation, paid for with the blood of His only begotten Son. And while the world may see us as rubble, God who has, “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (vs. 9) sees us as the bright, shining, choice and precious stones we are.
