Psalm 118:
22-24:
“The same stone which the builders
rejected * has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s
doing; * and it is marvelous in our eyes.
On this day that
the Lord has acted; *
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
In the 12th chapter of his gospel
Mark puts verses 22 & 23 from Psalm 118 in Jesus' telling of the Parable of
the Wicked Tenants to the members of the religious establishment who were
questioning his authority. You know
the tale: A landlord plants a
vineyard, leaves for another country, and leases it to tenants. When he is ready to collect his portion
of the profits, he sends several servants who are murdered by the tenants so
they can keep the profits. Finally
the landlord sends his son, thinking that surely he will be treated with
respect. But the son is murdered
as well. Jesus then says the landlord will come and destroy the tenants and
give the vineyard to others. Jesus
cites this passage from Psalm 118 as proof of God's intentions. Needless to say, the religious
authorities became quite angry when they realized Jesus intended this parable
to describe them! They were angry
enough to think about arresting him.
Mark saw Jesus as the rejected stone who had
been set as the cornerstone for the new work of God, beginning with Jesus'
resurrection. Traditionally cornerstones are important, because it's the first stone set on the foundation in
the construction of a masonry building. All other stones will be set in reference to the cornerstone, thus determining
the position and soundness of the entire structure.
Of
course, once a good cornerstone is set on the foundation, the builder needs
more stones. Evidence in the
gospels tells us that among human beings there was little for God to work
with. During the days before
Jesus' crucifixion the crowds abandoned Jesus. The religious authorities delivered him to the Romans as a
serious trouble-maker. One of those with him for the supper on Thursday evening
betrayed him to the authorities. One had denied him publicly. Other followers
appear to have scattered, hiding out in fear. Yes, some women stayed with him
through the crucifixion, but on morning of the first day of the week they were
bringing spices to anoint his dead body.
It's clear they did not expect resurrection. And the cornerstone itself
seemed pretty much smashed, while the “living stones” God needed to begin building
were useless or missing.
The
final line of the gospel reading today illustrates an profound absence in
understanding God's plan of salvation in Jesus: “So [the women] went out and
fled from the tomb; for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said
nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”
Isn't there more to this gospel?
Most scholars believe additional verses were added to Mark's gospel,
because of early Christians' discomfort with ending the gospel on a note of
fear. But if Mark wanted to lengthen
his story he could have done so.
But the earliest and most reliable manuscripts of Mark stop just where
we stopped today.
Although,
as a practical matter, the community for whom Mark’s gospel was written—decades
after the events of Easter morning—knew and believed the story of the empty
tomb and Jesus' resurrection, I'd like to stay for a bit with the empty tomb
and the frightened fleeing women.
Evidence of his resurrection was clear: stone rolled away, tomb empty
and a young man in white announcing, “He has been raised, he is not here.” But
no one was prepared to understand the evidence. This moment of is characterized by emptiness—absence of
Jesus at that moment and absence of the folks who understand the Good
News: Jesus' sacrificed himself
out of love for us to defeat the power of evil and death. And he triumphed!
We
sometimes talk about how we must be God's hands and feet in the world to do the
work needed to bring reconciliation and peace. The Great Commission from the Gospel of Matthew says, “. .
.go and make disciples of all nations . . .baptizing. . .teaching . . .” At the end of the gospel of Luke,
Jesus says for the disciples to wait until they have received “power from on
high,” but he also told them that “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” But at the end of Mark there seems to
be just emptiness and absence and fear.
Yet,
the way Mark's gospel ends highlights the power of God to transform even the
most desperate of situations. Perhaps we have experienced times when we felt
empty and fearful. We can
empathize with the women who fled, being overwhelmed and not being able to
receive whatever might help us—most of us have been there, too.
But
then we will have Easter moments--just as the women eventually did (although
Mark doesn't tell us about them)!
Our Easter moments have been—and will continue to be—times when our
distress and emptiness and fear are filled and transformed by the presence of
God. The “cornerstone” of our
lives has been set in place—Jesus Christ lives! We are now ready to respond as “living stones,” allowing God
to place us in proper orientation around our cornerstone, Jesus. Having experienced the filling of our
emptiness, the calming of our distress and replacement of our fear with
peace—for the moment at least—we can hear and respond to God's call to live
righteous lives, fit for God's kingdom, and to bear witness to his love among
all people.
So
on this Easter Day let us declare with the psalmist:
“The same stone which the
builders rejected * has become the chief cornerstone.
This
is the Lord’s doing; * and it is marvelous in our eyes.
On
this day that the Lord has
acted; * let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
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