The Capstone

When my youngest daughter was in second grade, we visited her new classroom and her new teacher on the open house day.
The school was a building she was familiar with, since she had been there to support her brothers for different events and concerts.

As we walked inside, on that open house day, we passed the cornerstone in the front of the building. We must have passed that a hundred times before, but her new found awareness of math made her take notice.

Look, Mom. You’re older than that.

When I looked to see what THAT was, I saw that she was referring to the date on the capstone…which was one year younger than me.
Now, granted, she was my fifth child, but I had my first child at twenty-four years old.
I could not be “older than a building”.
But I was.
By one year.

I didn’t know whether to be excited about the fact that she figured it out, or horrified that I was one year older than her school building.
I chose the former…and praised her.

Do we ever take the time to notice the cornerstone?
We should, since it is the foundational stone upon which the placement of all the other stones is set.
That is a significant job.
We walk right by the cornerstone without ever noticing.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. (Psalm 118:22)
Imagine…the stone that the builders consider unusable, holds the entire building together.
Only God could do that.
Only God could do that in His Son, Jesus.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
(Isaiah 53:3)
Jesus is the foundational Stone.
Jesus is the capstone of the church.

The amazing thing is, He uses other stones to continue the building.
The first stone He used was Simon.
I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church…(Matthew 16:18)
Peter was the first stone that was laid down to begin the building process.

Peter was a rock that Jesus could have easily laid aside.
Peter would soon deny Jesus.
But Jesus knows who Peter will become, in Him.
Peter will become the first rock.

Our Lord Jesus could easily toss us aside as unusable.
But He knows that, in Him, we will be used for His glory.
He builds with rocks that the world discards.
He did that with Peter.
He does that with us.

Peter, the rock, took the title that Jesus gave him, very seriously.
Peter called Jesus the Living Stone.
He calls us that name as well.

As you come to Him, the Living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him-you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. (1 Peter 2:4-6)

God is a builder.
What He deems acceptable, the world has often tossed aside.
We are not acceptable stones in our own right.
We are acceptable because we are set in place by the perfect Capstone.
We rest on Him.

The foundation that we stand upon is indestructible.
It is not sand, shifting this way and that.
It is the Rock. It is our Savior. Jesus.

Jesus is also called the stumbling stone…the stone that causes men to stumble and the rock that makes them fall. (Isaiah 8:14)

Lucy, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan, the great Lion, is safe.
Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.
He’s the King I tell you.

Everyone who meets Jesus will stumble because of Him.
Jesus taught hard things, sometimes offensive things, which caused disciples to walk away.
Jesus turned the world upside down with His teaching and some could not take it.

Jesus spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56)
Many of His disciples turned their back and no longer followed Him.
“This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?” (John 6:60,61)

Jesus is not safe. He is not predictable. He will offend.
But…HE IS GOOD.

If we stumble, and fall, and break into pieces, Jesus will put us back together again.
He is in the business of building.
He is the cornerstone upon which we are set.

Peter answered so appropriately when others walked away.
“You don’t want to leave, too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69)

Where else can we go?
Any other building…with any other capstone…will not stand.

 

 

One response to “The Capstone”

1. Where else indeed???!!!

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