A Stone for Breaking Or Crushing

Jesus is in the temple courts, teaching the people and preaching the Gospel. Present, are the religious powers, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and elders. They confront Jesus about His authority to do what He is doing and speak as He is speaking. They want to know by what authority He is doing these things. They want to know who gave Him His authority. They are trying to trap Jesus to show Him up as an imposter, a charlatan, a fake. However, the wisdom and shrewdness of Jesus, confounds them and they are stumped, right there in the public’s eyes.

It is on this occasion that Jesus tells the parable of the Tenants, with stinging strategy and stealth of speech. Jesus pulls not a punch as He speaks without hesitation or fear. Jesus has given a most visual and explicit meaning of scripture that gets the scholars in the crowd even more up in arms against Him. The people, after hearing Jesus in this parable describe the gruesome, wicked, evil actions of the tenants, towards the servants of the owner of the vineyard, and how they threw his son out of the vineyard and killed him, were mortified. We are told that when the people heard Jesus’ words they said, May this never be. Luke 20: 16b. Jesus reminded them of the scripture that would have been well-known to the scholars present, teachers, chief priests and many of the hearers also. He asked them what they thought the scripture meant. Then Jesus went on to speak in the language of the prophets, giving the Words life and fulfilling prophecy right before their very eyes.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed. Luke 20: 17b - 18.

It is at this point that Jesus explains most graphically and explicitly about the rejected capstone. The rejected capstone is Jesus, God the Son. May we be given ears to hear, eyes to see, a mind to receive and a heart that repents.

Two facts are explained about the fall. A person can fall on the stone, or a person can have the stone fall on him or her. Two facts are also explained about the outcome of the fall. A person who falls on the stone will be broken to pieces. A person on whom the stone falls will be crushed. To receive an even more in-depth understanding, we move away for a bit to look at Romans 9: 33b. See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

A Stone has been put in Zion.  People are stumbling and falling over this Stone, Jesus Christ. God’s own people, like the religious people with pharisaical hearts, minds and thinking, are stumbling and falling because of this Stone.  It is faith in the Rock, this Stone, that ensures that whoever believes will never be put to shame. The fact is that many children of God have pursued a law of righteousness, and have done so through works. Theirs is faith, in works, their own works, and not faith in Jesus, the Cornerstone. As long as the Stone is rejected, in any way, form or fashion, many will know the shame of being crushed to pieces. However, when you fall on the Stone, you are broken and come to deep, sorrowful repentance. Such a broken and contrite heart is never despised by the Rock. That broken and bruised heart is a cause for rejoicing to the Rock and He will never make a repentant sinner ashamed.

The hearers of Jesus on that occasion, were made up of two distinctly different sets of people, who all heard the exact words spoken by Jesus. However, their responses were totally different. May the piercingly deep wisdom of the Holy Spirit grant us grace to see ourselves and allow us the unquenchable hunger to repent and know the unconquerable power of salvation through the Stone. Ordinary hearers were broken to the heart, crying out, May this never be! What a cry for change, for help, for salvation! On the other hand, the religious, pious hearts who saw themselves as okay, and Jesus as a loud-mouth, were totally crushed. Scary indeed, for they could not see themselves. Their response, with bruised pride, is to get rid of Jesus. The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Luke 20: 19.

The Word of God is before you, placed in your Zion, and it is God’s Living Word, His Stone, on which we must put and build our faith and trust.

Many of us, who profess faith in Jesus, the Cornerstone, evidence, by our actions that we trust our own works, before we trust the unseen God.  Faith is found in the works of human hands, as we trust the ideas, thoughts, advice and actions of humans, before we trust the Given Word of God. Seldom do we, as believers, find it easy to trust the Hand of God, who always works, not according to human standards and human wisdom, but according to His Will and Way. 

To Trust God is to:

Take God at His Word. It is to activate that word in us. It is to be motivated by His Spirit and not hide away His Word and be afraid to step out in faith in Him.

Reach God at His Word. It is to associate with that word within us. The Given Word of God must never be a stranger to us. We are to be part of the testimony of that Word to the world.

Understand God at His Word.  It is to know, to appropriate all that He has offered us. To understand God at His word is not necessarily to understand the Word, but it is the understanding of that faith in us, which knows that God will never cause us to be ashamed, in Him.

Speak God at His Word.  It is to articulate all that He offers and promises us. It is to be bold to speak after God, knowing that His Words are Flawless, words that will never disappoint.

Test God at His Word.  It is to accommodate all that He gives and offers, to ensure that there is adequate room in our lives for them. It is to know the power and privilege given to us, to be the true test of His Word in human flesh.

Jesus, Holy Spirit Divine, do I trust You and know Your abiding peace? Your Word is free to all, yet Your Word is a Stumbling Stone, because we continue to seek You according to law and human works. Unless I am broken, I will never know change. Break me Lord. Amen!