A Piece of the Rock

There is an insurance company that advertises, “Get a piece of the rock.” Of course, they are trying to sell insurance by claiming that their company is rock solid (their corporate logo includes a stylized image of Gibraltar). I’m not about selling insurance, though, at least, not that pays out cash settlements.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus renamed one of His disciples, who was previously named Simon, Peter. Peter is derived from the Hebrew word Petra, meaning rock. Peter was sometimes called Cephas by other disciples, because Cephas was the Chaldean word for rock (in fact, the Gospel of John even says that Jesus renamed him Cephas rather than Peter). Immediately after renaming Simon, Jesus said, “upon this rock will I build my church.” There has been some contention between Catholics and Protestants as to whether Jesus was actually saying that He would build His church on Peter… To be honest, reading this, I would tend to agree with the Catholics. Almost all of the other references to rocks or stones that the church is built on, though, suggest something entirely different.
In Matthew 7, though, Jesus talks about two men that built houses. One man built his house on a rock, and the other on sand. Jesus doesn’t really tell us much about the construction of the houses; they may have seemed identical upon completion. Later on, though, a violent storm blew in, and the house on the rock stood, but the house on the sand collapsed. I believe that’s architecture 101. A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, and no building is stronger than its foundation. If you aren’t building on a good foundation, whatever it is you are building isn’t going to last; that’s why construction crews work so hard on foundations before they build the actual building.
In 1 Corinthians 10:4, we are told that the Rock was Christ. At least in terms of the firm foundation, it makes sense that Christ would be the Rock; if we build our lives on His life, and on His teachings, then we have our lives founded on something that cannot be moved. There are Old Testament prophecies about this as well: In Isaiah 28:16, there is a reference to God laying a sure foundation, and a cornerstone.
Peter even refers to Jesus as the cornerstone. He goes on to call Jesus a stone of stumbling to those who refuse to believe, and a rock of offense (this is a reference to Isaiah 8:14, which Paul also refers to in Romans 9:33). In Luke 20:17, Jesus refers to the Messianic prophecy in Psalms 118:22, and says that people that fall on the rock shall be broken, but the people that the rock falls on shall be ground into powder. Neither one of those options sounds pleasant to me, but, giving it some thought, I came to the realization that, by coming to Jesus, I have been broken. My old man is dead, and the new man is reborn to live for Him. If I had not been broken, though, then eventually I would have to answer for why not, and then the Rock would fall on me, and I would be cast into outer darkness.
Peter also tells us, though, in 1 Peter 2:5 that we are all “lively stones.” I believe that this in reference to what Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 19:40, that if the people singing Jesus’ praises were to be quiet, then the stones would begin to cry out. So, although Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian church, we are all lively stones, raised up to praise Him (including Peter). Of course, that means that it is our duty to worship; and, to be honest, He has given us ample reason to praise and worship Him. For any that refuse to worship, God can always find another stone.
By the way, I’ve heard it said that bad things come in threes. Personally, I think that has more to do with the fact that we, as human beings tend to look for patterns, and so we ignore when a single bad thing happens, but we take notice when three bad things happen together. Having said that, my sons’ maternal grandmother died recently, a co-worker’s paternal grandmother died this week, and my favorite cyber friend lost her maternal grandfather this week. It has been difficult for the families of the deceased, and so I would like to solicit your prayers for them. Thank you.