In the world of film, movies get classified under any number of genres. Broadly they generally get classified as comedy, drama, or documentary. But within each genre, you have any number of sub-genres; things like science-fiction, action-adventure, romantic comedy, and horror. One sub-genre that has a long history of being popular with movie-goers is the disaster movie. In these films, often given names like “Armageddon," “Doomsday,” or “Atomic Twister,” the primary plot line deals with some impending or ongoing disaster that may threaten the lives of a city, a nation, or even the world. These potential threats can range from rampaging hordes of zombies, to fleets of hostile alien invaders, to giant asteroids hurtling on a collision course with the earth. Often in these movies, initial warnings go unheeded, to disastrous and fatal ends.
While I trust that God will provide whatever protection is needed before an asteroid kills all life as we know it, Scripture does alert us to a danger that we would be foolish to take lightly.
It has become a commonly held view in our country that God, if he is acknowledged to exist at all, is too kind and gracious to condemn anyone to hell. That he’s a God who loves everyone equally, regardless of what they actually believe. The belief is that as long as you at least try to be a good person, as long as you don’t go out of your way to hurt people, you have nothing to worry about. But if we take Jesus’ words in Luke seriously, if we believe Jesus means what he says, he has a very definite, very real warning for all people.
There are a couple things we can take from this portion of Luke’s gospel. The first is that while there always has been and always will be opposition to the saving word of Jesus Christ, our salvation is complete and certain. We know this and can be sure of this because of the words Jesus himself quotes from Psalm 118. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Though we won’t celebrate Palm Sunday until next week, Jesus spoke these words sometime early during Holy Week. As he did every time he went to Jerusalem, Jesus went to the temple to teach. And as they often did, the Pharisees and teachers of law followed, eager to find something they could use against Jesus in order to get rid of him. These were men who knew the Scriptures. They knew the books of Moses. They knew the words spoken by the prophets. They knew the prophecies about the promised Messiah. They heard what Jesus preached. They tested him on the Word of God, and found he knew it completely. They saw him give sight to the blind. They saw him make the lame walk. They saw him RAISE THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE…and they dismissed him. They looked him over, they examined him, and they rejected him. They rejected him for not meeting their standards. For not being what they wanted him to be. They had no use for what he came to preach, or what he came to be. And so they sought to have him killed.
Satan, the old evil foe, made every attempt to keep God’s promises from being fulfilled. He worked at every stop of the way to stop this one who had been come to defeat him for all time. It was his greatest desire to see Jesus scorned, rejected, and killed. At Golgotha, on the mountain of the skull…he saw his victory. He saw the people demand that Pilate crucify him. He saw the nails get driven into his hands. He watched the nails get pounded into his feet. He watched as his strength, and eventually his breath, gave out. He saw him die. And he rejoiced.
But despite all that Satan did to stop the promise from being fulfilled, despite what the rulers and the chief priests did to silence Jesus and his followers, despite it all “the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone” of our salvation. As St. Paul would write in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
This is the Gospel message for us in this text. That despite all opposition and rejection, our salvation has been completed in Christ. Satan succeeded in killing him, but the grave could not hold him. Death had no power over him. And in his conquering death, in his conquering and defeating the snarling, scheming, Satan…we are given life. Life and forgiveness are ours because they have been given to us as God’s gracious gift.
We live in a world that is increasingly opposed to Christ and the gospel. We live in a society that is increasingly opposed and dismissive of those who believe in the saving work of Christ. Satan seeks to assault us at every turn. He throws challenges and temptations at us every day. The powers of this world know our weaknesses, know those things that tempt us most, and they continually place them directly in front of us. Our own sinful natures work against us, telling us that “it’s not that bad.” Telling us “it can’t hurt to do just this once.”
But in the face of it all, Christ Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and life. He came and stood firm in the face of temptation when we were unable to. He was perfect and without sin, yet he bore our sins all the way to death on the cross. And when the Deceiver thought he had won, Jesus rose up from the grave to establish God’s eternal victory. It is God’s great paradox that it is in Christ’s being rejected and killed that he was able to become the cornerstone, the very foundation of our salvation.
This great reversal in verse 17 is the good news we have been given, and it is what we as God’s children gather each week to celebrate. But, I also said before that Jesus provides a warning. And that warning comes in verse 18. “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Jesus is the cornerstone, but he also says that some will fall on the stone. And that for others, the stone will fall on them. His words hear echo the prophet Isaiah who wrote “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” This shows us that some who hear the word, who hear the good news of Christ will take offense to it and reject it. Because God is both patient and gracious to all of his children, such people may have more than one opportunity to hear the Gospel. They may have more than one opportunity for that Word to be heard so that God’s gift of saving faith in Jesus might be worked in their hearts.
But, and this is a “but” that cannot be understated…when the stone falls upon someone, when the Law of God is finally leveled on the unbelieving or unrepentant sinner, that person is crushed. He is pulverized. He is condemned for all eternity. There is no clearer picture of divine condemnation than this. Our sinful natures want to ask the question of how many times a person may hear the Gospel and reject it while still having another opportunity to hear of God’s grace. And I’m going to say right now…that question is not only wrong to ask, but it’s a question motivated by sin and a desire to lessen the power, truth, and authority of God's Word.
The truth of the matter is, none of us know the day or the hour when our time on earth will come to an end. We have no say, no control over when Christ will return or when we will be standing in front of God, called to give an account for our lives. Jesus began his ministry by calling out “Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand.” As his ministry nears its end, he warns about the very real, very serious consequence of failing to heed his warning. Of rejecting him and his word.
When God calls his people to repent, when he calls his people to believe, he doesn’t say to do so at your convenience. He says to do it now. He says to do it before it is too late. He is a God of love. He is a God patience and mercy. But he is also a God who established his law, and expects his people to take it seriously.
None of us are exempt from this warning. In fact, in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians Paul writes “Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We are all sinful, and we all face temptations that could lead us astray each and every day. Indeed, the weight of God’s law does fall on all of us. When it falls on the unbeliever, he is crushed and doomed to the fires of hell. But for the believer, when we find ourselves being convicted of the law and stand before God in broken humility and repentance, he raises us back up. He creates us anew. He restores our souls. While in our sin we are broken, in his steadfast love we are made to be living stones in temple of God, which has Christ Jesus as its cornerstone.
Our God is patient and gracious, but he does not overlook unbelief. When we look to the broken and bleeding body of Jesus on the cross, we see just how seriously God takes sin. He took it so seriously that he provided us a Savior so that we might not face the punishment we truly deserve. He still takes our need for a Savior so seriously that He provides and proclaims His Gospel freely to all people, because he knows we could never hope to earn our salvation on our own merits.
Though we take no joy in it, if we take God and his Word seriously, we know that those who reject this gift, those who reject God’s Word and God’s grace that is freely given in Jesus have only themselves to blame when they receive eternal condemnation. And because we have received God’s grace in Jesus, we daily seek to turn away from every person and thing that would come between us and our Lord.
Next Sunday begins Holy Week. It is a week in which we remember all that Jesus endured so that we might have forgiveness and redemption. Because God has graciously given us the gift of saving faith in Christ, we rejoice that we are built on the foundation of Holy Scripture, with Christ as our Cornerstone of our faith. We seek to walk in faithfulness, giving thanks at all times for the forgiveness that is ours in Him. And we seek to reach out to those who are still apart from Him so that they may not be crushed, but be joined with us in being built on the one who came to be our salvation. Amen.
- Pastor Latzke
