When Jesus Flips the Script--May 11, 2023

When Jesus Flips the Script--May 11, 2023

"For it stands in scripture: 'See, I am laying in Zion a stone, cornerstone and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.' To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.'" [1 Peter 2:6-7]

So here's a Bible fun fact for you: the passage from the Hebrew Scriptures [Old Testament] that New Testament writers quote most frequently is that one about "the stone that the builders rejected" becoming the chief cornerstone. 

When the early church went to its scriptures [again, the first Christians were all Jewish and would have known what we call the Old Testament as their sacred texts], to interpret what they had come know in Jesus, the theme they kept coming back to was this: Jesus was the one rejected by the world, but still chosen by God to redeem it.  And the fact that they found this insight in the ancient words of prophets and poets from centuries before their own time meant that the rejection of Jesus wasn't a random accident or cosmic fluke.  But at the heart of God's way of redeeming the world is God's willingness to be rejected by the world--and yet refusing to hold that rejection against us.

History and legend both are full of stories that point in the opposite direction: we have stories of heroes who saved the day because they knew or believed they were "The Chosen One" in some way.  In the Bible we have the story of Israel's first king, Saul, who is chosen by the people like a high school popularity contest, because he's tall and handsome.  Or there's the "Chosen One" trope in literature and movies ranging from Harry Potter to Anakin Skywalker to Neo in the Matrix and Aragorn in Lord of the Rings.  And along with them, there have been plenty of crown-princes or scion of corporate titans who believe they have to aspire to greatness and win the day because they are the "chosen" ones of their family, group, or nation.  But in Jesus, the script has been flipped: in him we see that God's way saving is precisely through being rejected, discarded, and thrown away.  And despite our rejection of God, God has still committed to rescuing a whole world full of us arrogant builders who didn't think Jesus measured up to our expectations. 

That's essential to the Christian faith and story because that's what love does--it bears the past wounds and hurts we've inflicted and says, "I won't weaponize that against you or wield it as a cudgel to harm you back."  So again, lest we think that all this talk over the last several weeks in our devotions about how love "doesn't keep record of wrongs" is just a side issue in Christian ethics or a lesser matter of the faith, First Peter sees this at the very center of the gospel.  God's great unfolding plan to mend the universe centers on a willingness to love the very world that rejects God, while it still actively rejects God, in order to get through to us and turn our hearts toward that love.

Today, maybe that's the crucial thing to hold onto for us.  Maybe we just let it sink in that God in Christ knows rejection--and that it is precisely his willingness to bear rejection and not give up on us that reveals how beloved we are.  There is probably someone around you who can't bring themselves to imagine that they could be loved that way, right now.  There is probably someone you'll cross paths with before this week is out who has only ever experienced conditional love with strings and fine print that can be lost forever if you mess up one too many times.  What would it do for them if you could be a voice that reminds them, "We are still beloved by God even when we've done nothing but reject God, and that love doesn't give up on us...."?  What if we tried offering that somewhere to someone who just might be waiting to hear it?

Lord Jesus, turn these fickle hearts of ours back to you, and stir us up to share the news of your love that defies rejection to keep loving us.