Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Lectionary: 234

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

These verses from Psalm 118 about the rejected cornerstone appear three times in the New Testament. In the Acts of the Apostles we hear Saint Peter's uncompromising declaration about Jesus:

If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.' There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

They appear a third time in the First Letter of Saint Peter:

For it says in scripture:

“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,

a cornerstone, chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.”

Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:

“The stone which the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.” 
They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Christians often trip over these dreadful stones. They may be the accidents that rendered us permanently disabled; or the diseases that changed the course of our lives. They may be failure in school, bankruptcy, divorce, the military draft or military discharge. They often appear like mountains that have fallen out of a clear blue sky, blocking our paths and obscuring our future. It can take months or years to get over, around, or through them; and by the time we do, the world has changed beyond recognition.

The stumbling stone may be the death of a close friend or relative when grief opens like an unbridgeable chasm and we face the staggering dimensions of loneliness. They feel like punishment, the immoveable rocks. We wonder why is this happening to me? What have I done that was so criminal as to deserve this?" We forget the words of Hebrews:

"...for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.”

Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?

If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards. Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards.

Finally, with time and grace, these apparent curses become cornerstones of our new identity. Some people learn to say, "I am grateful for that catastrophe; I might never have found the Lord without it."

Diseases like alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, diabetes, or Parkinson's lead many into support groups where they find -- perhaps for the first time -- understanding, sympathy, and fellowship.

In today's gospel, Jesus is the rejected cornerstone. He is that catastrophe in human history, despised by the powerful, influential, and secure; but loved by "tax collectors and sinners." Not only will he tear down the mighty from their thrones, destroying the institutions that impoverish most of the human race; he will lift up the lowly​ who welcome his discipline.