ISRAEL OF THE BIBLE had been God’s chosen people for the better part of two millennium by the time of Jesus. Beginning with one man’s journey from Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:5), and one developing nation’s journey from the first footstep from Harran (cf. Gen 11:28-12:4) to the syncopated strides of the multitudes into the Promised Land (cf. Josh. 1:2-3), God had been cultivating a peculiar people unto himself. “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” (Deut. 14:2)
Along the way, they had become keepers of the Ark of the Covenant, the object and symbol of God’s powerful presence and favor signified by his commands. “Chisel out two stone tablets. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets. Then you are to put them in the ark.” (Deut. 10:1-2) Eretz Israel, the land of the promise, was itself made holy by God’s presence, and his people were purposed to be consecrated as its caretakers, as he commanded, “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” (Lev. 11:45)
Late in Jesus’ ministry, he initiates specific events at the temple in Jerusalem that will lead directly to his crucifixion. He “Overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.” (Matt. 21:12-13) He healed many, “But when the chief priests saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant.” (Matt. 21:15), and even more so at his response: “Have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants, you, Lord, have called forth your praise?’” (Matt. 21: 16)
When the priests and elders question Jesus’ authority for his actions, he refutes them by asking about his baptism by John. “Where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” (Matt. 21:25) They display their venal motives. “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” (Matt. 21:25-26) To their obfuscating reply, “We don’t know,” Jesus responds, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (Matt. 21:27)
The chief priests, the elders, and the scribes have utterly lost any moral authority to question Jesus’ authority. That loss did not simply happen in this sharp exchange, but in fact had been building and compounding for at least three centuries as the Temple worship practices had become more and more materialistic. This loss emanates from the Temple to the furthest borders of the land— “From Dan to Beersheba.” (cf. Judg. 20:1-3) And this thought brings us to a leverage point in the conversation, one that Jesus uses to highlight not only the depth of corruption and hence separation from God, but also the imminent judgment of God.
Jesus tells them a parable of two brothers whose father owns a vineyard. The father asks both of them to go out and work the vineyard. One said “I will not, but later changed his mind and went.” (Matt. 21:29) The other responded, “I will, but did not go.” (Matt. 21:30) Jesus asks them which one obeyed their father. “‘The first,’ they answered.” (Matt. 21:31) They fall, as they must, into his syllogistic trap—they can do no other, for their faculties of moral reason are corrupt. The only right answer to this question is “neither,” but such perception is beyond them.
Jesus then tells them another parable, one they at first do not understand—because, again, they can’t. An absentee landowner owns a vineyard, but the tenant farmers are corrupt. First they mistreat the landowner’s servants, and eventually kill the landowner’s son. Jesus asks, “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Matt. 21:40)
The priest’s and elder’s answer is oblivious: “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants.” (Matt. 21:41) Perhaps they feel somewhat smug, or at least satisfied with their answer; they know the law—it’s what they specialize in. But Jesus then asks them, “Have you never read the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’” (Matt. 21:42) He then makes his meaning not just plain, but blunt. “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matt. 21:43) And he adds, “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matt. 21:44) They are furious, and in their hearts and minds Jesus’ fate is sealed.
In Jesus’ mind and heart, he is the son who has said “Yes,” and goes, and who becomes the cornerstone of the Father’s will. The favor of God will now be wrested from the Jews, and conferred upon the Gentiles. The Jews were meant to be priests to the nations; that mission, with the coming of the Christian church and by the acts of the Holy Spirit, is, for now, the holy task of this particular priesthood of believers. You and I are currently this priesthood, for, as Peter says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 2:4-5) Peter refers to Jesus as, “a chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Pet. 2:6), and adds, speaking directly to us: “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Pet. 2:10)
Q. Is my stone the cornerstone of my foundation or a rock in my path?
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