If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” – Psalm 118:22
Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22 during his final debate in the temple (Mark 12:10), after the parable of the tenants, where the tenants beat everyone the owner sent to check on his vineyard, culminating in them killing the owner’s son (Mark 12:1-12).
The chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders looked for a way to arrest Jesus because they understood He was speaking about them, God, and claiming himself as the Messiah.
Peter quoted it in his first defense before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:11) and later embedded it in his first letter (1 Peter 2:7). Paul referenced it in Ephesians 2:20, describing the foundation of the church.
They argued that Jesus’s humiliation led to his exultation, a universal biblical principal: When people humble themselves, God lifts them up (James 4:10).
Just when his enemies thought they’d rid themselves of Jesus, come to find out, the humiliation they caused was essential to establishing him as kind of kings. Imagine the stir in the spiritual world when his spiritual enemies realized they had been duped into instigating their own downfall.
As followers of Christ, our path is the same—paved with humiliation ordained by God and essential to our exaltation and establishment as keystones in the temple of God—his church.
