Dear readers,
Greetings to you all who take shelter under the wings of the Most High!
Our Lord Jesus goes by so many beautiful names and today I’d like to highlight one of those.
Psalm 118:22 reads – “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.”
Now, what does a cornerstone really mean? A cornerstone or a foundation stone is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. I would like to share what is mentioned in Wiki regarding this custom from ancient days that is still followed in some parts of the world.
“In modern Greece, when the foundation of a new building is being laid, it is the custom to kill a cock, a ram, or a lamb, and to let its blood flow on the foundation-stone, under which the animal is afterwards buried. The object of the sacrifice is to give strength and stability to the building. But sometimes, instead of killing an animal, the builder entices a man to the foundation-stone, secretly measures his body, or a part of it, or his shadow, and buries the measure under the foundation-stone; or he lays the foundation-stone upon the man’s shadow. It is believed that the man will die within the year. The Romanians of Transylvania think that he whose shadow is thus immured will die within forty days; so, persons passing by a building which is being built may hear a warning cry, ‘Beware lest they take thy shadow!’ Thus, the custom is a substitute for the old practice of immuring a living person in the walls or crushing him under the foundation-stone of a new building, in order to give strength and durability to the structure.“
That doesn’t sound like a very pleasant custom, does it? But there is nothing we need to worry about because Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice of being crushed under the cornerstone. He didn’t stop there but rose up from the grave and defeated this custom in itself. We’re no longer slaves to such customs but victorious as Christ is our cornerstone and his sacrifice is the reason for the strength and durability of the building – which is the church of God.
Let us therefore value his preciousness as a cornerstone and not let him be a rock of offense or a stone of stumbling as it is written in 1 Peter 2:7,8. God bless you!
Thank you and Regards,
Reena Regin
