the rejected stone

​A key passage for engaging the mystery of Christ crucified and risen appears in the liturgy for today, the Wednesday in Easter Week. Psalm 118 announces: “The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Christ is the cornerstone rejected by humanity. Yet he is essential to the divine construction project. What the Holy One is building depends on Christ, the one killed and raised to life. Our linear, logical plans fail in favor of a dramatically different architecture. When we begin to recognize this, we resist, telling the Trinity it’s our way or the highway.

The Father endorses the Son’s witness by delivering him from the tomb. Jesus goes forth as the incarnation of forgiveness for the world. He ascends, but God is not absent. The Spirit arrives to enflame human hearts. Saints keep appearing among us. Every one of them follows Jesus and thus encounters rejection. Yet they become stones in the edifice built on the victorious Christ. This is marvelous in our eyes.

Charles Hoffacker