A Spiritual House

 

I Peter 2:14-20

 

     One day in Colorado we went for a walk with our daughter and grandsons along the Poudre River.  There were a lot of stones lying on the river bank.  You know that boys will be boys and we started throwing stones in the river.  Then I tried to teach Hank how to skip stones on the water.  It really looks neat when you can get a stone to skip eight or ten times.  After reading I Peter and reflecting back on that experience, it seems to me that may be the closest we come to making stones live.  It is like they are alive and bring life to the water as they skip across the surface.

 

       Palestine is a stony country.  The bedrock is not far below the surface of the ground.  Certain kinds of stones were shaped into knives.  Some were used for weights for scales.  Some were used as flints to strike fire.  There were larger stones that were used for landmarks and as boundaries.  The most important use of stone was for building as stone was regarded as superior to brick.  The foundation of the temple was made from large hewn stones. 

 

       Stones had military uses.  They could be missiles thrown by the hand or as in the case of David and Goliath they could be used with a sling.   Stones were used to bring justice, to kill people who had committed adultery. 

 

       And of course stones could be written on, for example the Ten Commandments.  Or they could be used as altars for worship. 

 

       I Peter is not just referring to stones, it mentions living stones.  The term living stone may seem like an odd one to us.  We need to keep in mind that back in the days when I Peter was written idols made out of stone were not unusual.  People prayed to these idols thinking that somehow this would help their situation.  In reality those stones were powerless.  They could do nothing to help or to heal or to save.  For all intents and purposes they were dead. 

 

        What Peter wants his readers to recognize is that there is a living stone that is worthy to be worshiped, one that can heal and save, and his name is Jesus.  He is the living stone that the builders rejected when they put him to death and he has become the most important stone of all. The image is one of a construction crew looking at their blueprints, trying to see how a particular stone fits in the building.  Finally, they decide it does not belong and they toss it aside.  But God makes it the chief cornerstone. 

 

        For a moment, Jesus was dead, just like those idols made out of stone.  But God raised him to new life.  Even when our plans are flawed, God makes sure the building will be completed. 

 

        Not only is Jesus called a living stone, his followers are called living stones.  We are living stones who bring life to others. We are living stones being built into a spiritual house. 

 

         This spiritual house is not like the one we have seen so much of on the news last week in Texas.  This house is not one that takes advantage of people, it is not one that abuses people, it is not one that takes the life out of people.  It is a spiritual house that is made of stones that do what is best for each other, a spiritual house that shares the good news of what God has done. 

 

       One of the things that living stones are called to remember is that once we were no people.  We were lost in sin.  Once we were as dead as those stone idols.  Now that we are people of God we need to be careful that we do not treat others as no people and cast aside people who are valuable in God's eyes.  Our task is not to cast people out but to share all of the wonderful things that God has done so that others will discover their place in this spiritual house. 

 

        One helpful exercise for all of us might be to make a list of all of those things in our lives that are like dead stones, those things that have no spirit, that do nothing to generate new life.  And then point to the living stone, the one who is the source of our new life.  May this Easter season be a time to direct our lives away from the idols that lead us nowhere and direct them toward the living stone, the one the builders rejected, the one  who has become the chief cornerstone, the one who gives us new life.