Stones that are alive

Observe. Peter calls Jesus a living stone, rejected by humans but chosen and precious to God. Then he says that believers, as they come to him, are also living stones being built into a spiritual house. He quotes three Old Testament texts: Isaiah 28 on the cornerstone laid in Zion, Psalm 118 on the stone the builders rejected, and Isaiah 8 on a stone that causes people to stumble. The same stone is precious to some and an obstacle to others.

Interpret. A cornerstone sets the angles for an entire building. Every other stone is laid in reference to it. Peter is saying that Jesus, dismissed by the religious builders of his day, has become the one stone by which the whole people of God is aligned. And the people are not bricks in a wall. They are living stones, which means they grow, they bear weight, they belong to one another. The passage is about the church, not just the individual.

Apply. Two things follow. First, we are laid in relation to Christ, so drift from him is drift from the building. Second, we are laid next to one another, and a stone that insists on standing alone is not part of a house.

Where in your life is Jesus a cornerstone, and where is he closer to something you keep stepping around? Who are the stones laid nearest to you, and are you bearing any of their weight? What would it mean this week to come to him, as verse 4 says, rather than simply believing things about him?