PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 12:1-12
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (Mark 12:10)
The religious leaders were tasked with building and maintaining God’s ‘house’.
That house was meant to be a place for the nations to meet God (Mark 11:17).
God’s messiah was meant to be the cornerstone for this – where the nations meet.
Instead they made it their own castle, and resisted those who threatened their space.
The religious leaders knew that Jesus was talking about them in this parable.
But does the church today know that Jesus is talking about us too?
We are supposed to be producing fruit for the nations, not hording it to ourselves.
We are supposed to be gathering people in to Jesus, not building walls to keep them out.
You would think that followers of Jesus would respect the son they claim to serve.
Jesus’s grace community is a place for strugglers and stragglers to find refuge.
Jesus’s appointed leaders are meant to gather – not arrest and punish – the sinners.
The nations need the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc.
We have been left to produce this fruit for the nations, and invite them in to be graced.
Jesus is speaking to us today – are we as his builders rejecting the cornerstone?
PRAYER
Lord, you are speaking to me. You want to produce the fruit of the Spirit in me, and to share it with the ‘nations’ around me. Help me to respect – not reject – the cornerstone of grace!
As followers of Jesus we are messengers so we can expect that we might be treated shamefully: “Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.” But what about the other side. Could we as ambassadors or ‘guardians’ of the message of salvation be the controlling ones – shutting others out because of our rules etc. much like the Pharisees that Jesus was talking to? Could we be treating and rejecting the lost, neglecting justice etc. – shamefully promoting our own ends but neglecting to share the message openly and with our reservation? Rather than guarding it and hoarding it for ourselves and judging who may receive it or not! Forgive me Lord if I seek only those whom I think qualify – rather help me to willingly share with all – openly testifying of your grace in my life.
We are tenants in this His creation. We are to work in this creation for His glory, serving Him. However all too often we think we can do anything here, making our own rules and serving our desires rather than the Creator’s desires. As a result we have created divisions among ourselves insisting upon my ways rather than His. The church has splintered rather than being unified. Not a good witness. Help me this day Lord to serve You with my words and deeds – letting Your Light shine through me sharing the good news.
1 Not what these hands have done
can save this guilty soul;
not what this toiling flesh has borne
can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
can give me peace with God;
not all my prayers and sighs and tears
can bear my awful load.
2 Thy work alone, O Christ,
can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine,
O Lord, to Thee,
can rid me of the dark unrest,
and set my spirit free.
3 Thy grace alone, O God,
to me can pardon speak;
Thy pow’r alone, O Son of God,
can this sore bondage break.
I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
and with unfalt’ring lip and heart,
I call this Savior mine.