1 Peter 2:4-10

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. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter, continuing to use metaphors to describe new life with Christ, uses the idea of building a house to help us understand new life. Jesus is the “Living Stone” and the “Precious Cornerstone” on which all of Israel’s hopes was built.

The Jewish leaders and people rejected Jesus as their cornerstone and they stumble as a result. But, for those of us who have been called out of the darkness and into life, Jesus has become the foundation, our cornerstone, in new life.

Jesus as our cornerstone is a well known metaphor, but still a helpful one. Jesus and his message of forgiveness is our foundation as we seek to live as a new kind of priest. As people who share the mercy that God has shown us with the world.

Let’s pray.