Living Stones

A builder walks through a stone yard, looking at every block. He picks one up, turns it over, and tosses it aside. Not good enough. Years later, that rejected stone is set at the very corner of the building, holding the whole thing together.

The apostle Peter, the fisherman who became one of Jesus' closest friends, is writing a letter. It is addressed to believers scattered across five regions of what is now Turkey: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Peter calls them strangers, exiles, people living far from home. Many of them were being mocked and mistreated for following Jesus. They did not fit in. They had no grand temple, no impressive buildings. And Peter writes to tell them who they really are.

Peter begins with Jesus. Come to him, he says, the living stone. People rejected him, but God chose him, and he is precious in God's sight. Peter knew what it was to be close to a rejected man. He had seen Jesus arrested, mocked and crucified. He had even denied knowing him. And he had seen him alive again. Jesus is a living stone, alive, not a dead block of rock. Then Peter turns to his readers. And you also, like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. They might not have a temple. But they are becoming one. Every believer is a stone in God's building, and God himself is the builder.

Then Peter reaches for the scriptures, three passages about stones. From the prophet Isaiah: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. The cornerstone is the most important stone, the one the whole building lines up with. From the Psalms: The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. Jesus himself had quoted that verse about himself. And from Isaiah again: a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. The same stone can be a firm foundation, or something people trip over. It depends on whether they trust him.

And now come some of the most beautiful words in the whole letter. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. In old English, peculiar meant God's very own, his special treasure. And why? So that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Then Peter reminds them where they came from. 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. People who felt like outsiders, scattered, unwanted, are told they belong to God's family, chosen and loved.

The temple Peter knew in Jerusalem was famous for its stones. The Gospel of Mark tells how one of the disciples once said to Jesus, look, Teacher, what massive stones. The Jewish historian Josephus described the temple's building blocks as enormous, some about twenty-five cubits long, more than ten metres. Peter takes that picture of great stones, and applies it to ordinary people built together by God.

Living stones. You'll find Peter's words in First Peter chapter two, verses four to ten. Jesus, the stone the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone, and everyone who trusts him is built into God's house. So here is a question to carry with you. If you are a living stone in God's house, who are the other stones beside you, and how can you help hold them up?