When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. Mark 11:15

Can you picture the scene? Jesus was not authorised to do this, or was he? When his authority was challenged by the Jewish leaders he told them the parable of the naughty farmers at the vineyard. The main idea behind the parable is that although Jesus had God’s authority to do what he did, he would be rejected by the Jewish leaders and killed. Amazingly their rejection of Jesus was the means by which he would save all people from the sin of rejecting God.

Why does Jesus then quote Psalm 118? Jesus uses the image of the stone to represent the Jews rejection of his authority. The tradition story is that the capstone for Solomon’s temple was made at the quarry and sent to Jerusalem. Originally the builders misunderstood what it was for, rejected it and put it aside. When the most important stone for the whole temple was ordered by the builders, the quarry said it was already delivered. In fact,

‘the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ Mark 12:10

The most important stone in a building was rejected. We are no longer rejected by God because Christ was rejected for us.

Let us remember this as we think about Easter

Grace and peace from Paul