Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Feb 8 2020 - Luke 20:1-26 – Jesus the cornerstone

The Jewish leaders were not happy that Jesus had thrown the traders out of the temple. Who gave him authority to do such a thing? When they challenged Jesus on the matter he turned the tables on them by asking who they thought gave John the authority to baptise?

This was not just a tit-for-tat question. Jesus goes on to tell them a parable about a vineyard whose tenants will not give the owner his share of the harvest. As Jesus tells the story of how servants are beaten and sent packing and then the son of the owner is killed, he is speaking about these leaders and their like down the years. They have rejected the messengers sent by God – they rejected John, and now they are planning to kill the son and heir. Jesus has authority to cleanse the temple because he is the one to whom it belongs.

Jesus concludes the parable by quoting Psalm 118:22, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone [or capstone]" (Luke 20:17). Again he is speaking about himself. The Jewish leaders may reject him, but it is God's purpose to make Jesus the chief stone in the new temple that he is building. He will have a temple that is a fit place for his dwelling with his people.

God plans to create a people among whom he will live and in whom he will display his glory. This will be a new people (see 20:16); a temple for God's dwelling made out of living stones. Jesus is the foundational cornerstone for this new temple; the stone against which every other stone is positioned and fitted. And he is the capstone; the one who finishes off and crowns the whole edifice. He is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

We are to live out our lives in vital connection with Jesus. He is to shape our lives. Only as our lives are connected to him will his glory be seen in us.

We are to live also in vital connection with one another. There is more to a temple than a field of scattered stones. We are to "grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:15-16). This is an organic temple, bound together and made strong by the ligaments of love. This then is our prayer:

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love

There is only one God,
There is only one King
There is only one Body,
That is why we sing.

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love

Made for the glory of God,
Purchased by His precious Son;
Born with the right to be clean,
For Jesus the victory has won.

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love

We are the family of God
We are the promise divine
We are God's chosen desire
We are the glorious new wine.

Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love

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Feb 8 2019 - Genesis 49:29-33, 50:12-26 – Jacob's death

In today's passage, Jacob and Joseph both talk about their own impending deaths and instruct their families on what is to be done with their remains. When the time comes for us, will we be comfortable to talk with our families about our own impending death? What will we have to say?

As a young man, Jacob had fled from home because Esau, his twin brother, was threatening his life. God had appeared to him at Bethel, announcing himself as "the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac." He had promised to bring Jacob back to the land of Canaan and give it to his descendants who would be like the dust of the earth in number (Genesis 28:13-15). In accordance with his promise God had brought Jacob back to the Promised Land with the many children and possessions he had gained during his exile with uncle Laban.

Now, as an old man, Jacob had again been forced to leave the Promised Land; for the last 17 years had been living in Egypt. Nevertheless, Canaan remained for him the land of promise and he wants to be buried there with his fathers in the cave that Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite. God had promised the entire land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants but the only land they owned thus far was a graveyard.

Facing death, Jacob demonstrates his faith in the promises of God. He wants to be laid to rest in the land God had promised them in sure and certain hope that God would fulfil all his promises to his descendants in days to come.

Joseph similarly, when nearing death, gave instructions about his remains. He also is convinced that God will keep his promises. Though he is happy for his remains to rest with the Israelites while they are still in Egypt, he is fully convinced that God will one day bring them back into the land he had promised him. Joseph wants a part in that Exodus even after his death.

After Jacob's death, Joseph's brothers fear that he may now take the opportunity to exercise his power by punishing them for selling him into slavery, so they invent a story to try to protect themselves. Joseph takes no notice of their story but quietens their fears saying, "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:19-20). Joseph recognises that God has been working out his purposes for blessing even through the evil plans of his own brothers.

These words remind me of the apostle Peter preaching to the crowds on the day of Pentecost. Some of the crowd may have been those who called out for Jesus to be crucified just a few weeks earlier. Peter declared, "This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him" (Acts 2:23-24). They intended it for harm but God intended it for good and for the saving of many lives.

God's determined purpose in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ gives us hope in the face of our own death. Even though our bodies may return to the dust from which they were made, either by slow dissolution in the grave or by rapid reduction to ashes, we have a sure and certain hope in Christ that we too shall share a part in the inheritance of glory that he will give to all who belong to him at his appearing. We have a better and more secure inheritance than Canaan.

Father God, we thank you that we can trust in you and in your promises in both life and in death. Thank you that your promises to us are underwritten by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus and guaranteed to us by his risen power. Help us not to fear death but to prepare for it in expectant hope.

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Peter Misselbrook