Scripture quotations and notes from The Jerusalem Bible
“Blessed is he who does not find me a stumbling-block.” —Jesus
One of the most powerful set of related images running through the Old and New Testaments is that of the Rock, the Cornerstone, the Foundation, and the Stumbling-block. The Season of Resurrection brings with it the promise of its assurance for those who are convinced of their power and reality. It has occurred to me that this post is aimed both at those who have this assurance and to those who seek it, as well as those who doubt or deny its reality. Wherever we stand on the map, it is a necessary consideration. We are the beneficiaries of a great heritage in the life, teaching, and continuing manifestations of Jesus [see the post I Just Want to See His Face]. We crave certitude, much as those in the Old and New Testaments. What images can evoke solidity more than those just mentioned? Our heritage of Christian hymns is full of it: “Rock of ages, cleft for me”, “On Christ the solid rock I stand”, “Built on a rock the Church doth stand”, “How firm a foundation”, to name a few. There is much from the historical record and, most of all, from the personal experiences of men and women from the time of Jesus to the present day which has driven them to declare the reality of His Divine Personhood.
Our cynical culture leaves us awash in a sea of relativity and skepticism, and extends to some segments of modern Christianity as well. I have made the point, as have many others, that the growth of the early church could not have happened without the rock-solid assurance of those who experienced the presence of the risen Lord. They would not have taken the risks or made the sacrifices they did for an idle assortment of teachings and memories. The same truth confronts us today. The Easter revelation is full of power if we would but look for it. It can be apprehended through reading and study. It can be sensed through meditation. But mostly, it can be received through the power of our Lord, which is as manifest today as it was during his time on earth. Many believers, myself included, feel an exhilaration, a lightness of being, in this manifestation. If we do, it builds certainty, like that found in rocks, foundations, cornerstones.
As with its influence on other religious vocabulary, there is much in the Sanskrit language which aligns with our Christian understanding. These terms are taken from the Upanishads [Robert Ernest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, 1934]:
1. kutastha: immutable, not subject to change, “summit abiding”, “on the summit”, or “on the anvil” (from kuta=“summit”+stha=“to stand”); the supreme soul, unchangeable, standing at the top, keeping the highest position, immoveable, changless.
2. Kutastha Chaitanya, Kutastha Caitanya: the universal Christ [or, in Hindu practice, Krishna] consciousness, kutastha (that which remains unchanged) chaitanya (consciousness)
3. kutastho: the “still point” [compare to Psalms 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God….”; “I am”; “I am He” [see the post In Search of the Great “ I AM”]
The Israelites were generous in ascribing the image of the rock to the power of Yahweh:2 Samuel 2:2 “none as holy…(no one but you), no rock like our God.; 2 Samuel 22:3 “rock, horn of salvation, stronghold and refuge”; Psalms 18:2-3 “shelter, rock, horn of salvation, stronghold, refuge” [notes: “God is often called the Rock of Israel, i.e. the bulwark of his people, and especially of the Davidic dynasty” [see the post, The Root of David and the Branch: A Shoot from the Stem of Jesse]; Psalms 27:5 “he hides me deep in his tent, sets me high upon a rock”; Psalms 31:2-5 “sheltering rock…fortress…refuge”; Psalms 71:1-3 “sheltering rock…walled fortress”; Psalms 89:26 “rock of safety”; Psalms 94:22 “citadel…rock where I take shelter”; Psalms 95:1 “Rock [capitalized] of our safety” [notes: “Allusion to the rock that yielded water in the desert (Exodus 17:1), or to the rock on which the Temple was built (2 Samuel 24:18).”]
Another powerful image of God is that of supporting the creation of the universe: Job 38:4-7 asks the question, “What supports the pillars at its bases? Who laid the cornerstone…?”
Psalms 118:22-24 contains a key passage quoted by Jesus and incorporated into early Christian preaching: “It was the stone rejected by the builders that proved to be the keystone; this is Yahweh’s doing and it is wonderful to see [KJV, other versions “it is marvelous in our eyes”].” Isaiah 8:13-15 further develops this thought: “Him you must fear, him you must dread, He is the sanctuary and the stumbling-stone and the rock that brings things down” [notes: “The meaning of the name Immanuel”]
Isaiah 28:16-18 (described as an oracle) marks a significant shift from the “rock” attributes of God to their application to the messianic promise of the advent of Christ. It reads, “See how I lay in Zion a stone of witness, a precious cornerstone, a foundation stone: The believer shall not stumble. And I will make justice the measure, integrity the plumb-line.” [notes: “….The prophetic orientation of the Book of Isaiah emphasizes the ‘plumb-line’ ”, associated with the setting of the cornerstone, evoking the notion of righteousness.]
As we move into the Christian era, contemporary writer Alicia Purdy has made these points which apply to the individual life of the believer in her post How is Jesus the Cornerstone? The Truth of a Firm Foundation:
1. Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation, and the stumbling-block to those snared by human traditions of religion. When you need to rely on a faith that cannot be shaken, you’re going to need to build it upon Him and Him alone.
2. God uses those terrible times for His greater purpose by placing Jesus the Cornerstone at the foundation of our lives, where we have the option to build them on a solid Rock where all the angles are true and all the lines are straight so that when storms come, what we have built on Him isn’t shaken
3. The “Word” (John 1:1-5), will guide us as we make decisions and set things into place.
Zechariah 3:8-9 contains a curious passage. While not referring to Christ specifically, it deals with the Davidic succession of which Christ is a part. [see the post previously referred to]: “On this single stone there are seven eyes”…”I now mean to raise my servant Branch” [The notes reveal much of the extensive background of this passage: “This stone presumably stands for the Temple. The seven eyes are symbolic of the watchful presence of Yahweh. The inscription (‘Sacred to Yahweh’) has not yet been cut: the building is not finished. This messianic title [Branch] (as in Jeremiah 23:5) does not yet seem to be applied to Zerubbabel [of the Davidic succession leading to Christ] For ‘Branch’, Greek reads ‘rising Sun, (as in Luke 1:78).”] [Wikipedia: Zerubbabel, descendent of David and a precursor of Christ was a Persian governor of Judaea who played a key role in the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. He is significant for leading the Jewish people in restoring their religious and political identity after their return to the land of Israel. The rebuilding of the Temple and Zerubbabel’s role in it rekindled Jewish messianic hopes, as some saw him as a potential figure in the coming of a future king.]
Not only is God involved in the creation of the universe; God’s work is also evident in human consciousness: In Zechariah 12:1 “It is Yahweh who speaks, who spread out the heaven and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him;”
Jesus used the parable of wise and the foolish man and the manner in which their “houses” were built in his teaching (Matthew 7:24-27. Luke 6:47-49). This relates to the foundation upon which our belief and practice lies. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, recalling the parable, identifies Jesus Christ as the foundation upon which we build. The quality of our materials, whether we build in “gold, silver and jewels, or in wood, grass and straw” will determine our destiny. Of interest here is a statement in the notes that “This is not a direct reference to purgatory, but several Doctors of the Church have taken it as a basis for that doctrine.” There is another account in related religious thinking known as “life review”. To my mind it supplements and does not oppose the Catholic view. At the point of death, human consciousness is transported by the spirit to gradually merge with the spirit’s permanent identity, adding the significant experiences of the life just completed to those of previous lifetimes, making up the totality of who they are. Many attitudes and concerns that lead to bad thoughts will be released in the brief journey to the spirit world. This is more difficult for younger spirits and those who find it difficult to let go of their attachment to past wrongs or disappointments, might continue to have some human-like bad thoughts until they have processed them in the life review. Once the spirit is released, it will share all of the positive emotions that humans have but not the negative ones such as anger, bitterness, resentment, guilt, and shame. The spirit world, then, is not a static entity. It is a place of opportunity, growth, and purpose where spirits are encompassed always by the light and love of the Creator. Those conditions of earth that create bad thoughts no longer exist.
Matthew 16:17-18 tells us that people can be as solid in their spiritual development as stones. Those who succeed the Spiritual Master must be solid indeed. Peter has just professed Jesus’ identity as “the Christ, the son of the living God”. In response, Jesus names him Peter (Aramaic kepha, Greek petros), appointing him to continue his ministry as the founder of his Church. According to the notes, prior to this time this word was not used as a person’s name and so serves as a unique identifier of Peter’s identity and the role he was to play. The notes also state that this name may have been conferred on him earlier, as indicated by passages in the other three gospels (Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14, John 1:42). Regarding the Church, its identity (Aramaic qahal, Greek ekklesia), used frequently in the Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People, takes on a new meaning as it now describes the community of the “end-times” which, while rooted in heaven, has its beginnings here on earth.
Psalm 118 reappears in Matthew 21:42. Jesus reveals his identity to his followers as “the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.” As explained in the scripture, it was part of the Divine plan, for it is “the Lord’s doing”, and “is wonderful to see”.
In John 17:24, as Jesus bids farewell to his disciples in his final address, he acknowledges that the glory given to him by his Father was “because you [the Father] loved me from the foundation of the world”, thus establishing his rock-solid identity from eternity as well as an origin which has a firm eternal basis.
In Acts 4:10-12 Peter, in healing a crippled man, again addresses Psalms 118, this time applying this power to that of the resurrected Christ. He identifies the name by which this was performed, as “crucified, whom God raised from the dead”, and, addressing the Jewish Sanhedrin, was “the stone rejected by you the builders, which has proved to be the keystone. He concludes by stating that the name Jesus (“God saves”) name is “the only one by which we can be saved”. This recalls the message of the angel to Mary in the Annunciation (Matthew 1:21) that Jesus (Hebrew Yehoshua) is “the one who is to save his people from their sins.”
In Romans 9:30-33, Paul repeats the words of the Prophet Isaiah identifying Yahweh Sabaoth as the stumbling-stone, stating the reason for Israel’s failure: “Because they relied on good deeds instead of faith…they stumbled over the stumbling-stone…a rock to trip men up”, applying this to Jesus, concluding “only those who believe in him will have no cause for shame.” He goes on in Romans 11:9 to quote David in Psalm 69:22, stating “may their own table prove a trap for them, a snare and a pitfall”. The notes explain the “table” as the sacrificial meals, making the Jews “incapable of acknowledging a suffering Messiah they are so attached to their formal worship.” To me this applies not only to the Jewish practice of that day but to our own. Might this not also be a critique of a modern Christian worship where over-reliance is placed on liturgical forms?
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 provides an extensive historical perspective. It connects the legend of the rock from which those on the Exodus journey, as the notes state, were first “baptised [British spelling] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” and are now “united with Christ in his baptism”. Here, the manna and the water from the rock are taken to suggest the Eucharist, and the liberation from Egypt as the” liberation from sin by Christ” [symbolized by Moses] as well as Jesus’ usage of the Passover-supper (Matthew 26:27-29 as “the blood of the [new] covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” This is the reason for the many Exodus references in the Easter liturgy. Finally, “the spiritual rock that followed them where they went” is a title for Yahweh as “the Rock of Israel”, used by Paul to indicate “the pre-existent Christ with the attributes of Yahweh.”
Ephesians 1:3-6 gives us another time(less) reference leading back to creation: “Before the world was made, he chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ…” What is the significance here? Christ forms the “source” or “model” for the way in which we are to become holy, evoking the idea of the “plumb-line” of righteousness, being adopted as his sons and daughters and aligned with his eternal purpose, much as in the alignment of a building.
The nature of this spiritual “building” is contained in Ephesians 2:17-22. (1) The prophets and apostles have formed its foundation; (2) with Christ as the cornerstone, the issue of alignment appears, making it a beautiful spiritual building where “all grow into one holy temple in the Lord.” Further on, in 2 Timothy 2:19 affirms, “God’s solid foundation stone [i.e., Christ] is still in position, and this is the inscription on it: ‘The Lord knows who are his own’ and ‘All who call on the name of the Lord must avoid sin’.” The notes indicate, as illustrated by the image for this post, “Details about a building were often inscribed on a foundation stone….the foundation stone could either by Christ himself [1 Corinthians 3:11], or the apostles [Ephesians 2:20, also Revelation 21:14.where the walls of the City of God stands on twelve foundation stones, each one bearing the name of one of the apostles], or faith in the unbreakable promise of God [2 Timothy 2:13, the faithful God, who “cannot disown his own self.”]
Again addressing origin, Hebrews 1:10-12 refers both to “the Lord, who laid the earth’s foundations in the beginning” [Psalms 102:25-27, spread out, Greek planted, Is 51:16, spread out], and to the end-times, where “you [the Lord] will roll them up like a cloak, and like a garment they will be changed. But yourself, you never change and your years are unending.”
1 Peter 2:4-8 gives us a final recapitulation of “the stone rejected by the builders” [i.e. Judaism]. Here “the living stone…precious to him [God], has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down.” More specifically, “They stumble over it because of their unbelief; it was the fate in store for them.” I find the statement in the notes that the prerogative has been transferred from Jews to Christians to be arbitrary and prejudicial, as historical evidence shows a great number of Jewish believers, even attempting to graft Christian faith onto their Jewish traditions. Jewish influence not only serves as a vital historical precedent but is at the root from which Christianity has grown. Its prophecy in Isaiah 11:1 of the shoot that “springs from the stump of Jesse, a scion [that] springs from his roots” indicates the closeness of this connection and the flowering of the Davidic dynasty in the spirit of the prophets which, as the notes state, will be “poured out on all men. Is this not the spirit of adoption, as opposed to condemnation? As religious study continues to this age, reasonable people are drawn more and more to disavow the antisemitism of the older view, especially in light of the Holocaust.
On a related note, in 1967, Dagobert D. Runes published an edition of the Book of John in which he sought to remove what he called “obvious errors” which had crept into the Greek translation during the early centuries of the Church. The evangelists, he notes, “were all Hebrew and, like the Lord Jesus himself, used only this ancient tongue and its vernacular, the Aramaic.” Of particular concern in Chapter 8, where Jesus is quoted as speaking of the Jews as “The Sons of the Devil, doing the Devil’s work.” He asked, “How could the living Christ have spoken in such manner of His own kin, His own parents, His own people?”, concluding “It is obvious that such and similar references in this Gospel of Love are either erroneous or false.” Unfortunately, this translation, and this view, has survived, and blame can be squarely laid at the feet of church leaders both Catholic and Protestant through the centuries. His dedication at the front of the book reads, “Edited in conformity with the true ecumenical spirit of His Holiness, Pope John XXIII….The message of Jesus is offered here without adulteration by hate and revulsion against the people of the Savior.” The author’s ambition goes further than this translation alone. He writes, “It is my ardent wish to bring out in the near future the whole body of the New Testament, cleansed of anti-Jewish interpolations, so that this great book of love will cease to be—for the Jews, at least—a book of hate.”
The final book of the Bible presents us a curious stone image. In Revelation 2:21 the “hidden manna and the white stone” is promised to those who prove victorious. This stone will have “a new name written on it, known only to the man who receives it.” What does all this mean? The manna “will be brought out as the food of those who are saved in the heavenly kingdom.” The white stone, symbol of triumph and joy, “symbolises [British spelling] entry into the kingdom. The “new name” written on the stone signifies the Christian’s spiritual rebirth.
As the City of God appears in Revelation, its foundation, recalling the earlier passage in Ephesians 2:20, is built on twelve foundation stones, “each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” God, our rock, has incarnated in the person of Christ, the rock, the foundation, the cornerstone, that upon which unbelievers stumble. But those who believe and persevere are incorporated into that marvelous building which is the Church of God. May we who believe witness to that power as men and women are drawn to the power of the risen Christ. Amen.
Divinepersonhood 
Amen 🙏
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