John MacArthur on Luke 20:9-19
The parable has ended. The end is tragic for the vine-growers. It’s tragic for those who follow the vine-growers. It’s tragic, at this point, for the son, he’s dead. But the death of the son can’t be the end of the story. So he looks at them and says, “In case you’re wondering if that’s the end of the story, have you forgotten the Scripture?” And He quotes Psalm 118:11. “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.” He takes them from the analogy and the parable that He developed, right into the Old Testament. This is not the end of the story, lest you think it’s the end of the story, think again. Have you forgotten Scripture? Scripture says that the stone rejected becomes the chief cornerstone.
Well what is the importance of that? It’s very simple because they would understand it clearly. They knew the hallel very well. They knew Psalm 118, probably most of them knew it by memory, certainly the leaders did…the chief cornerstone. They may have even given messianic overtones to that because in Daniel chapter 2 the Messiah who comes to smash the image in Daniel’s vision is the stone cut out without hands. The Messiah was known in some circles as the stone. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
I’ll tell you how that works. If you’re going to build a building, in ancient times you build it out…a great edifice…out of stone, there’s one stone that has to be perfect, that’s the cornerstone. And it has to be perfect in every direction. It has to be perfect on the bottom so the building is flat. It has to be perfect on the sides so the building rises in a perfect perpendicular fashion. It has to be perfect on the top so it doesn’t tilt and the angle has to be exact or the building is going to wander off out of symmetry. The cornerstone sets every angle for the building. Builders knew that then they were going to build a building, they had to have an absolutely perfect cornerstone. How many stones are you going to build a great edifice would you throw away before you found the perfect one? Realizing that all these stones were hewn by hand, you would come across a stone and say, “Almost but not quite.” You’ve got one side of the stone that’s going that way and if we follow that line, it’s not going to work. The angle is just off a little tiny bit and that’s going to send this building away from symmetry. How many stones would they throw in a pile and say, “Well maybe we can cut that one up and use it somewhere else?” before they found a perfect cornerstone?
And now in the teaching of Jesus, the illustration has shifted and the son has become a stone. The son is now the stone which the builders rejected. They had said, “You’re not perfect. We don’t accept You as the cornerstone to God’s Kingdom.”
If you go back into the hallel in Psalm 118 and interpret that in its context, it…it there historically looks at Israel and God is, in a sense, condemning the nations because in the great empire building that was going on all around Israel, nobody paid attention to Israel. They were rejected. That rejected nation will become God’s cornerstone nation because that rejected Messiah will become God’s cornerstone Redeemer. And so what in its initial interpretation looked at Israel, the cornerstone nation to God’s history, and the destiny of the whole world tied to that one little nation even though it was rejected by the nations all around it and always has been, is now ultimately become true only because Christ is Himself that true cornerstone that gives genuine shape to His people and will one day when Israel is saved. But here obviously our Lord refers to Himself. He is the stone which the builders rejected. This is a very familiar New Testament quote. Acts 4:11…4:10, “Let it be known to all of you,” Peter is preaching here, “Let it be known to all of you, to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name the man stands here before you in good health. He’s the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very cornerstone.. He’s talking to the rulers, the elders, and the scribes and to Annas and Caiaphas and all the leaders, and he says, “You rejected Him, you rejected Him as the cornerstone and He rejects you.” And guess what? The stone which you rejected is back and it’s the cornerstone. The Son is the stone and He has returned…that is resurrection, dear friends, that is resurrection. The story does not end with a dead Son, for the stone in which the builders rejected to become the chief cornerstone, there has to be a restoration. In Jesus’ case, a resurrection and He will die on Friday but He will rise on Sunday. The stone that did not measure up to their standard, the stone that did not fit what they were trying to build, the stone rejected by the Jewish leadership and the nation as inadequate and imperfect and unacceptable and flawed becomes THE most important stone in the eternal Kingdom of God, the Kingdom which God Himself is building becomes kephale goniaios, the head of the corner, supporting the whole structure and symmetry of God’s glorious Kingdom of salvation.
And so, the explanation has an extension to finish the story. But that’s not the final word. The final word is in verse 18. This is a threat. I guess you could call it an application, it’s more than that, it’s a serious threat. The question that is being posed behind the statement of verse 18 is, “You had better be careful how you engage yourself with Jesus Christ.” Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
What is that? That is a way of saying this, a collision with the stone will destroy you…it will destroy you. This is Old Testament imagery as well. They must have known Isaiah chapter 8, a couple of verses there. Listen, Isaiah 8:14, “But He shall become a sanctuary,” speaking of the Lord, “but to both houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over.” Verse 15, “And many will stumble over them will fall and be broken.” Isaiah said He will be a stumbling stone, a crushing stone, a deadly stone. Paul in Romans 9 says, “They stumbled over the stumbling stone,” referring to Israel, verse 32, “They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written.” And he quotes from that passage in Isaiah 8 and also from Isaiah 28:16 which says essentially the same thing. “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” Either you believe in Him or you stumble over Him, you’re crushed by Him.
This weighed, I think, on the heart of Peter. He says this, 1 Peter 2:6, “For this is contained in Scripture. I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone,” that’s Isaiah 28:16 again. “He who believes in Him shall not be disappointed. This precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this becomes the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” And that’s Peter picking up these very words of Jesus, where Jesus puts these two ideas together…the stone the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone, and the stone of stumbling over which you stumble, or under which you are crushed.
In the ancient times it has been discovered that there was a rabbinic saying that might be behind this. It goes like this and it’s an ancient one. “If a stone falls on a pot, it will smash the pot. If a pot falls on a stone, it will smash the pot.” Whether the stone falls on the pot or the pot falls on the stone, the results will be the same because the stone will not be broken. This is a way of saying if you encounter Jesus Christ and you have a collision of any kind with Him, you will be pulverized. No way around it…no way around it.
Our Lord was so straightforward. This is a message of love and warning, terrifying. Our Lord found no joy in it, that’s why He wept back in chapter 19 verse 41 when He came to Jerusalem. Rejecting Jesus Christ is the most tragic thing anyone can ever do. The message right to the heart of the most important choice you will ever make in your life: What will you do with Jesus Christ? Will you submit to Him, embrace Him as Lord and Savior? Or collide with Him as a crushing stone?
How did the leaders respond? Look at verse 19. “And the scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour. They feared the people for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.” He knew…they knew He was talking about them. He was condemning them. Instead of being convicted, instead of being penitent, they heightened their efforts to kill Him. How sad…how tragic. This was their last hour. John says, “He who has the Son has life, He that has not the Son of God has not life but the wrath of God abides on him.”
How about you? Where do you stand? Do you submit to Christ as Lord and Savior and Redeemer? Or will you collide with Him as your crushing judge?
Father, do a work in the heart of every person here. Lord, we understand that all You can do is to lay out the truth to us for which we are then accountable and then You hold us responsible. Thank You for grace. Thank You that You are as we read in that same Psalm, You are our strength and song and You have become not our judge, but our salvation. Bring that salvation to hearts today. This we ask for His glory. Amen.
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