I Peter 2:1-10
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk… (v. 2a) Carol and I are fortunate to have a “newborn infant” living just across the driveway from our house. We see Rachel and Audra together quite often. It is absolutely clear to Rachel (and to us) when that newborn infant is longing for mother’s milk. She wails until she is finally offered that mother’s milk. What a great picture of where we should be – longing for, desiring that “pure spiritual milk”. I’m clearly not as hungry as I need to be!
A lot of talk about stones today – living stones, cornerstones… I had mentioned some time ago that in another life I had been in partnership as a concrete contractor and that we had named our company “Cornerstone Construction”. Our business was poured-wall concrete foundations: dig a hole, pour footings, set metal forms to form the sides of the walls, and pour concrete into the metal forms. No cornerstone as such, but everything together formed the foundation for the house. The hole had to be dug well – exact dimensions, proper depth, good side walls. Then the footing that would hold the forms that form the walls – again, exact dimensions and all according to local building codes. Finally setting the forms and pouring the wall – if our diagonals were more than a half-inch “out of square” (you may recall that diagonals on a rectangle are equal) we adjusted the forms to get it exact. When the foundation is good, the rest of the house goes up nicely. Pour concrete into walls that are two or three inches “out of square” and the builders are forever making adjustments to try to get the house to sit well.
Whenever Isaiah (Isa 28:16) or the Psalmist (Ps 118:22) or Jesus (parable of the vine-growers) or Paul (Ephesians 2:20) or Peter (I Pet 2:6,7) mentioned a cornerstone, I’m sure they had the Temple in mind. No doubt, the Temple had a definite cornerstone that was perfect in shape, set on a rock foundation, and exact in its direction so that its main gate faced due east. But Jesus told the parable of the vine-growers toward the end of his life (see Luke 20:1-18). In that parable He was (do doubt) referring to Himself as the stone that the builders had rejected, essentially linking Himself to the cornerstone of the Temple. He is, today, our cornerstone, our sure foundation! And we are His …living stones … being built up as a spiritual house, … a holy priesthood… (v. 5a). Living stones that continue to build on that sure foundation – what a high calling!!
Slava Bohu!
Great points, Fred. I was struck by the visual that we are individual stones but must rely on the foundation. Also that one stone doesn’t form a church, we have to be in community with other Christians. The main thing I am dismayed about in this election season is that it is fracturing the church and being selective about what the Word says.