5th Sunday of Easter
1 Peter 2:4-9
Come to [Jesus], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen 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,” and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.”
Let Jesus Be Your Cornerstone
As I was thinking about what I was going to say today, I kept thinking back to my mission trips to Mexico. These trips often involved some kind of construction. I suppose that’s what the author of our epistle reading wanted people to think about when reading this text, using words like “spiritual house,” “cornerstone,” and “builders.” Only, the houses that we built in Mexico didn’t have cornerstones to help guide the angles that would form the walls. Instead, we laid foundations made out of concrete, poured into forms made out of wood. But, the idea is similar: you need some kind of guide to make sure that the wall is built straight, so that the house doesn’t fall down.
The one particular mission trip that my mind goes to didn’t go exactly as planned. I’m not going to tell you when this was, or use any names, because I don’t want to air dirty laundry on the Internet. That’s not the point of this; I don’t want to shame or embarrass anyone. I just want this story to serve as an illustration.
Even though we were going on this mission trip for a good and Christian reason, to build houses for people who couldn’t afford them, some of the people involved did not have Jesus as the cornerstone or foundation for the reason they were going on the trip. Some of them were there because they thought it might look good on a college application. Some of them were there for community service hours. Some were there for tradition, others because their siblings did it before them, or because the cool kids were doing it. There were, of course, people who were going because they thought it was the right thing to do, but with so many other people there for other reasons, there was a very specific and definite flavor to the trip.
I first realized something might be wrong when we played a variation the game called “Never Have I Ever.” The person running the game makes statements like, “Never have I ever been to France,” or “Never have I ever been scuba diving,” and the players have to respond to the statements. All of the kids sat on these metal folding chairs in a big circle, and if they had done the thing mentioned in the “Never have I ever” statement, then they had to move one seat to the right. Now, with each statement, some of the kids would have done it, and others would not have, which meant some kids ended up sitting in each other’s laps. Any seats left empty after each statement would be removed from the circle.
As you can imagine, this led to more and more kids trying to share the same seat, and the rule was, if you fell over, or if the chair collapsed, you were out. So, I had an issue with this game, even before it started. We were supposed to be on a mission trip to help people who were less fortunate than ourselves, and as a pastime, we were playing a game that was intended to break perfectly good chairs. What a waste! What kind of message does that send? That we have so much money, we can break good, functional chairs as part of a game?
Another concern arose as the game went on. I’m not sure who came up with the questions, but some of them really started to bother me. “Never have I ever shoplifted from a store.” “Never have I ever been high when I went to school.” And with each statement, the kids would scramble to get into their seats, and everyone was laughing and having a good time as we glorified these terrible outrageous acts that they had done. And chairs would break, and there would be more laughing, and I started wonder, “What exactly were we doing there? What were these kids learning on this trip?”
We did what we set out to do, we built four small houses, which included laying the foundation for each one. Overall, it was a good trip. We did some good in the world, and it was a good experience for the kids. But still, that cornerstone, that foundation, wasn’t there. And, it became obvious again on the last night of the trip. We stayed in a hostel, north of the border, and the kids were loud and rowdy, and some of them stayed up all night long, keeping the other guests up. And, to this day, I have no idea what possessed them to do it, but some of the kids started throwing food out the windows at people who were walking on the sidewalk below. Instead of keeping Jesus was their cornerstone, instead of doing unto to others as they would have them do unto them, they threw food at people walking by on the sidewalk, and in doing so, our organization got banned from that entire chain of hostels. Talk about a stumbling block.
I suppose things could have been worse; things can always be worse. Which is why Peter tells us to keep Jesus as our cornerstone. Why we should keep Jesus as the foundation of our lives. Today, on this communion Sunday, we remember the foundation of our faith tradition. That Jesus lived to tell us of God’s great love for us. That Jesus took the bread and the cup, symbols of freedom and covenant, and told us that he is the bread, and he is the cup. That Jesus died and lived again as a promise that we would do the same.Because we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called us out of the shadows into marvelous light.
In all that we do, we must keep Jesus as our cornerstone, lest we stumble over him. Because Jesus will keep popping up in unexpected ways, in unexpected places, when we don’t keep him as the cornerstone of our lives. Last week, we compared Jesus to a shepherd. This week, a cornerstone. A living stone. With both metaphors, Jesus is our guide, showing us where to go and how to get there, getting in our way when we start going somewhere that we shouldn’t. That pull of conscience that we feel sometimes. That’s the shepherd’s crook. That’s the stumbling rock.
The kids who threw the food at the people walking by apologized. Of course they did, they’re not monsters, they were just kids caught up in the moment. They lost touch with their cornerstone. And so, Jesus got in their way to trip them up, helped them to realize that what they did was wrong. Just a little. Not to hurt them, or shame them, but to remind them of who they really are: God’s children, God’s chosen. And hopefully, someday, part of the royal priesthood, proclaiming the mighty acts of the one who called us out of the shadows into marvelous light. From the first moment that I understood the phrase “priesthood of all believers” I believed it. I believed it. Because we can all talk to God. And, we can all share God’s love with the world. And, it is all of our responsibility to heal the brokenness in the world. That is what Jesus taught us. That is what it means to choose Christ as our cornerstone. That is what it means to be God’s chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people. Amen.
