Daily Lesson for November 27, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 8:

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture:

‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,

   a cornerstone chosen and precious;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ 

7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

‘The stone that the builders rejected

   has become the very head of the corner’, 

8and

‘A stone that makes them stumble,

   and a rock that makes them fall.’

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

and Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 through 30.

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ 28Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

We are coming down to the final days of the liturgical year and today’s Lessons tell of a time of great reversal, when the first shall be last, the last first, and the stone rejected at the founding becomes the cornerstone for a new foundation. And those who have fallen out with family and friends for God’s sake will receive a hundredfold family members and friends and also eternal life. 

I know so many who have lost so much for the sake of their convictions. People I know have been rejected by communities, churches, denominations, friends, and families because they stood up for what they thought was just, right, and loving. Friendships ended, and families split, and the prophet has no place to lay his or her head.

The Thanksgiving holiday is a reminder to many of these of what has been lost.  There’s division at the table. Or maybe the division is so deep that the table can’t be shared. Family isn’t really family anymore — not like it used to be. 

So the Lessons today comes as words of consolation.  There are things worth standing up for, Jesus is saying — even if it means rejection. But the rejection will not last forever. One day there will be a righting and reckoning.   One day others will see also. 

And then, “the first shall be last, the last shall be first”, and the rejected stone shall one day have the place of honor, and the rejected child shall have the place of honor at the head of the table. 

So then may it be, on earth even as it is in heaven.