Today’s reading is very similar to yesterday’s in Matthew 23
Having said that, I started to wonder “what should I write about this morning?” I felt like I addressed the text ideas yesterday…which is laughable, because any one passage of Scripture could be the source of hundreds of sermons and perhaps thousands of blog entries. To approach the reading with the attitude “I already read this” is to give aid and comfort to the enemy. “Go away satan! I will read God’s Word today as it was meant to be read….fresh and alive!”
We sing songs about “Christ alone, Cornerstone”, probably emanating from verse 17. The idea is that Jesus is the first stone, the one rock upon which all the others are laid. As anyone who works with cement blocks or stone knows that you begin with the corners. The first corner will orient the rest of the house, and Christ is the “first corner”. Without Jesus the rest of the Bible makes no sense, has no power or authority. He, and He alone provides context and meaning to everything that has been written.
For instance, what possible difference would the account of Joseph make to me, if Jesus didn’t appear thousands of years later? Joseph’s life is a foreshadowing of the life of Christ. The humble beginnings, persecutions and rejection by brothers, only to be elevated to the second highest place of authority, from where he can then rescue the very people who harmed him. Jesus makes that account relevant! And, all other accounts as well. Christ, the cornerstone of the Bible, the Cornerstone of our salvation, the Cornerstone of understanding, the Cornerstone of Worship and the Cornerstone of Wisdom. Jesus! Without Him, none of this makes any difference at all.
In fact, Jesus says that if He is dismissed as irrelevant or not real, then his full weight will crush that person. I have to assume this will occur at the Judgement at the end of days.
Living faithfully, and building around the Cornerstone…
PR