“4 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5 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. 6 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.’

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,’

8 and,

‘A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.’

They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.” NIV

I was on a return journey from school one day when I saw it through the bus window. In big white letters on a wall in the middle-distance, someone had painted the question, in ‘King James Version’ language, ‘What think ye of Christ?’ (Matthew 22:42). Of course, it could have been an irresponsible, if well-meaning, act of vandalism. It’s not a good idea to graffiti someone else’s wall, if that’s what had been done.But it’s an important question. The New Testament teaches that our personal response to Jesus is a matter of great and eternal significance.

Today’s passage shows that we can have one of two attitudes to Jesus. We can ‘’come’’ to Him (v.4. Note, trusting in Him, v.6b, and believing in Him, v.7a, are two other ways of expressing this same reality), or we can reject Him (v.7b – this is also described as disobeying ‘’the message, v.8). But nothing here encourages us to think that dismissing Christ is a good or wise choice. For someone who comes to ‘’believe’’ in Jesus, they now see Him in the same way God does. He is ‘’precious’’ (see verses 4b and 7a)

Also, our response to Him in no way alters His position as Lord of the church God is building. Jesus is both the ‘’cornerstone’’ and the ‘’capstone’’. He is all-important, and nothing can change the fact.

PRAYER: Lord, we pray that in these momentous days many people will turn from rejecting Jesus to accepting Him, and will taste just how precious he is.