Stones

"Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Luke 20:18

Good morning, dear friends!

If you ever come and visit our family in France, I am sure that we will take you to visit our city of Amiens.  Amiens may not be as large as Paris or Marseilles, but it has its attractions.  One of the main tourist attractions is the Gothic Cathedral which stands in the middle on an elevated plateau, that can be seen from our village, some 9 miles away.

As is often the case when you live so close to a famous landmark, we rarely notice the Cathedral anymore.  In fact, the only time we usually visit the Cathedral is when we have guests that come to visit.

Quite frankly, the Cathedral always creeps me out a little.

I guess I have an overactive imagination but staring at all the statues, the candles burning in the semi-darkness, the coldness of the Cathedral even in the summertime, well, let's just say I feel a little uneasy.  Don't even get me started on John the Baptist's head, which is reportedly housed there.

(Shudder)

"Head of John the Baptist"
(photo wikipedia)

One thing that always amazed me about the cathedral is the size.  For the time it was constructed (early 1200's for those who love history) it was a ginormous undertaking.  In preparing for this blog, I read that to lay the foundations for the facade of the cathedral, the builders dug 26 feet deep into the ground, so that the foundation could be placed on bedrock!

As impressive as all that is, when I look at the outside of the cathedral, all I can think is:

Look at the size of those stones.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to have that much stone carved, brought and assembled for the cathedral.  One stone is just huge.  I'm sure that there must have been times during the construction of the Cathedral when one of those stones got away from the builders, and the end result was not pretty.

As I was reading this week in Luke 20, I read the parable that Jesus gave the priests and scribes about the wicked husbandmen, who so dishonored their Master, that the Lord of the vineyard "shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others." (v.16)

When those hearing Jesus were horrified that this would happen, Jesus reminded them,

"What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."  (v. 17-18)

Outside the Cathedral of Amiens, the walkway is assembled with ancient cobblestones, some of them as old as the cathedral itself.  Graceful as I am, I have fallen on those cobblestones before, as I walked around town.  As painful an experience as that is, obviously it would be a scratch compared to having one of the supporting stones from the cathedral to fall on me.

When I fell on the hard stones, the largest injury was to my pride.  If one of the stones of the cathedral fell on me, the result would be fatal.

Jesus likens Himself to the rejected cornerstone.  To the Jews of His day, Jesus's message of repentance and faith in God was largely ignored, criticized or rejected. Those who rejected His offer of salvation were those whose lives were destroyed, and their eternal future lost.  Those who heard His message, and repented in faith toward God, though they were painfully humbled, found eternal life.

I don't expect that the Cathedral of Amiens is going anywhere anytime soon.  It has withstood fires, two major world wars and many other natural and manmade disasters.  It was solidly built.

May my faith in Christ be solidly built on Him as well.