Rejected Cornerstone

One of the great things about Sunday school is the opportunity to discuss scripture - especially with people of different ages and life experiences. Early this Sunday school year, our class was discussing the weekend's gospel passage which was from Matthew, chapter 21, verses 33-46 - The Parable of the Tenants. I was new to teaching, but had led discussion groups with Bible Study Fellowship, so felt the best approach was to have a set of prepared questions that would prompt discussion.

My first question was "Who is given the kingdom of God?" This is the type of question that can be answered directly by reading the text at its face value. In explaining the parable Jesus says "...the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit." (Matt. 21:43, NIV) We could also talk about the "you" in this text referring to the chief priests and Pharisees and how they were none to pleased to realize Jesus was talking about them.

The technique I had been taught was to lead with a question that can be readily found in the text itself. Once answered, you can move to deeper question about what the text means (interpretation) and how it might be applied in our lives (application). I was prepared to follow up with "What are the fruits of the Kingdom?" and "How different might the world be if we produced these fruits regularly?"

These later questions were held as a homework assignment. It seems the teacher had a lesson to learn as well. While it is good to be prepared, when we are working with God, we also need to leave room for the Holy Spirit to guide us in other directions. During these discussions, we came to our first "Stump the Teacher" question - What is a cornerstone?

This was a very good, very important question. While I was prepared to guide discussion toward the fruits of the kingdom, this question gets at the heart of the kingdom. In the passage (verse 42) Jesus asks the chief priests and Pharisees if they had never read the scriptures and goes on to say:

"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."

This is actually a reference to Psalm 118 (which the chief priests and Pharisees quite obviously would have known). But more importantly it was a prophecy pointing to Jesus himself. Those around him were rejecting him, even then looking for ways to have him arrested. But what is significant about a cornerstone?

Wikipedia tells me that a cornerstone is "the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation." It is important because all other stones are set in reference to this first stone, thus determining the position and orientation of the entire structure. My dictionary also suggests an "indispensable and fundamental basis; a person or thing of prime importance."

For the Christian, Jesus is this person of prime importance, the indispensable basis of our faith. While producing fruit (fruits of the kingdom) are certainly important, the central purpose of this passage is to point us to the importance of Jesus as our firm foundation. The teacher learned a lesson that day; I trust the students did as well. Thanks be to God!

Question: We also discussed the term capstone - where is that term found in scripture and how might it also point to Jesus?