Two stony relationships

Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."

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There are some Bible passages that are difficult to understand.  The passage above has always spoken to me in a certain way.  But when I review the interpretation of other commentaries I can find no one who sees it the way I do.  Here's what speaks to me: Jesus is the Rock.  He is the cornerstone of the Church and the Rock of our salvation. [See Psalm 62]  A person can have one of two relationships with this rock...but it is inevitable that one of the two will take place.  Either a person will fall upon the rock and be broken, that He might be made new, or he can walk around the rock during this life only to have the rock of judgment fall upon him and be crushed.  'Broken or crushed'...that is what speaks to me.  Far better to die to self and fall upon the Rock now...it means the loss of what we are familiar with and comfortable with because it means being broken.  But it is better to realize the need for brokenness than to go through this life intact, but actually full of brokenness within.

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Commentaries disagree and believe that both of the situations...falling on the rock (characterized as tripping over the stone) or being crushed by it are both the result of rejecting God's Rock.

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Perhaps they all are correct.  Nevertheless, in my experience, total brokenness needed to take place before the Lord could come in and remake me...step by step into something new and something closer to what He intended.

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When the Rock has become our personal cornerstone then He also has become our rock of refuge and our strong defense.  Let us fall upon that rock while we can!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

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"Death is inevitable.  Life is a choice!"

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."