The Cornerstone

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE CORNERSTONE

Matt 21:42

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

NIV

Although these words of Jesus were within the parable about the landowner who rented out his vineyard, we left these words without comment. They, in themselves, are worthy of consideration. Within the rendering in the Greek text, this would read as the head of the corner, or the cornerstone. The style of building many of the formidable buildings of that day was to find the best stone, a beautiful stone, and hone it to square, using it as the first stone at the first corner of the foundation stones. If the cornerstone is perfectly square, then the whole building will be. Here, Jesus calls himself that cornerstone, showing them and us, that he is the foundation of the church. God chose Israel as his people and sent them His Son to be the foundation of their faith, for them to build their faith on Jesus. God, in His infinite mercy, gave them the law to prepare them for His Son. It was impossible for them to find their righteousness in the law, but they could not accept His Son and refused to give up the law. In fact, did they not only reject the cornerstone, but they also discarded and tried to destroy it. However, God, again in his infinite mercy, sent Jesus to be the cornerstone of all men’s faith, every church, or what we would call the universal church, which consists of all men who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This means that we have Jesus as the cornerstone of our lives. All that we are is based on Jesus, and everything we do should be based on Jesus. He sets the corner of our lives. If we have Jesus as the foundation of our lives, then our whole lives will be all square. No law, no manmade rules or regulations can give us that foundation. The Jews thought all the law and the prophets were their foundation, their heritage, their destiny was all built on the traditions of men, rather than the truth of God. We too must be careful to always see Jesus as the foundation of the church, which is we the people who have been given the right to be called the children of God because we did not reject the cornerstone but set it firmly in our hearts. It is what the Lord has done, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He has given us the cornerstone.