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The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. (Psalm 118:22-24)

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Anyone familiar with the New Testament will know that these verses from Psalm 118 about Jesus being the cornerstone show up all over.\xa0 Verse 24 is also where our song \u201cThis is the Day that the Lord has Made\u201d comes from.\xa0 The Palm Sunday shout of \u201cBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord\u201d also comes from this Psalm.\xa0 So, there\u2019s a lot going on here.

The most significant theme that resonates throughout is how the Lord is the one who saves.\xa0 \u201cIt is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans,\u201d the psalmist says.\xa0 And later: \u201cI will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.\u201d\xa0 The Lord is the one who saves from death, calamity, and sin.\xa0 He is the only one, in fact.\xa0 The psalmist couldn\u2019t do it alone and is convinced that no one else can either.\xa0 But because the Lord is good and because \u201chis love endures forever,\u201d we are able to trust that the Lord will not give us over to death either, even when we face death.\xa0

Of course, all of this good foundational theology was made flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus.\xa0 He was the one who came in the name of the Lord.\xa0 He was one who faced death unjustly and entrusted himself to the Father for salvation.\xa0 He did not attempt to save himself.\xa0 His hopes were well placed.\xa0 On the third day he was vindicated by the Father and rose from the dead, able to say once and for all with Psalm 118: \u201cI will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.\u201d\xa0 All of us who trust in Jesus are able now to say the same thing.\xa0

But of course, this all looked rather like weakness.\xa0 Jesus didn\u2019t put up a fight.\xa0 He got himself bloodied and bruised.\xa0 He got himself killed.\xa0 Builders do not choose weak stones to be the foundational cornerstones.\xa0 Builders do not choose broken stones to become the foundational cornerstones.\xa0 Nor do they choose stones that they cannot put to their own uses.\xa0 By that criteria too, Jesus was rejected.

But God vindicated Jesus.\xa0 Not only by overturning Pilate and the Religious Leader\u2019s unjust verdicts against him, not only by raising him to life and so nullifying the sentence of death carried out against him, but also by raising Jesus to the highest place in the throne room of heaven\u2014making him the King, the foundation, the base upon which the Kingdom of God, the Church, and all God\u2019s people would be built.\xa0 This weak one becomes the strength of God.\xa0 This broken one becomes the restored face of the entire edifice.\xa0 This one who could not be put to use by the will of man becomes the one who empowers any worthy use any of us can set our lives to.\xa0 \xa0\xa0\xa0

Jesus is our cornerstone. The only name in which life and salvation can be found. The only worthy foundation upon which to build our lives.\xa0 So today, let us rejoice and be glad in him.

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