Jesus Christ should not be thrown away like a discarded brick
We are homeless. Not personally, as a family, but as a congregation we are currently meeting in temporary locations. Our church building has recently been demolished and work has just begun on erecting a new building on the old site.
These times of change are always times of mixed emotions. We look forward to the erection of a new property on the Stranmillis Road, but for this vision to become a reality the old had to go. We don’t want to put too much emphasis on the bricks and mortar but, of course, people have particular memories associated with church buildings and, as such, their demolition can cause some sadness.
These mixed emotions came to the fore some weeks ago when, along with others, one Saturday morning we observed the diggers ripping off the roof and tearing down the walls of the building in which we had gathered for worship for many years. It struck me as I watched the demolition contractors at work that it would be good to have a momento of this old building. One of the men working on the site kindly obliged and presented me with a large stone which he rescued from a huge pile of rubble just before it was loaded on to a lorry. The stone had been thrown away as rubbish, something useless which was about to be dumped.
In the Bible in several places — Psalm 118 and Acts 4 — this concept of ‘the rejected stone’ is brought before us. Jesus himself uses the expression in reference to himself in Luke Chapter 20 and at verse 17:
“He looked directly at them and said: What then is this that is written, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?”
Here Jesus is reminding his listeners that he is the one whom men are rejecting. Graphically he suggests that just as builders throw away mis–shapen and unsuitable stones when they are constructing a new building so men and women are rejecting him and casting him aside.
The same, of course, is happening today. Many have no time for Jesus or for the good news of the Christian Gospel. Many are rejecting Jesus. It’s vital that we take a look at our own lives and consider how we are treating Jesus Christ. Are we just ‘throwing him aside’ like a discarded brick or have we, by God’s grace, reached out to him for salvation and forgiveness.