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 Who is the “Stumbling Stone”?

To quote Romans 9:32,33:

“Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.  As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”  

How often have we considered who, or what, is the “stumbling stone” of which Paul writes in Romans Ch.9?

The first interpretation of this phrase is with reference to the local community: the people of the synagogue who would have attended to consider their faith. The local community did not believe in the ‘person’ represented by this statement.

The “stumbling stone” is Jesus.

For the community, at that time, believed ‘salvation’ totally depended more upon rigid and painstaking obedience to the law, than to God. The community has lost sight of the fact that the Old Testament was more about faith than a rigid attention to law, not by human effort.

Has the world changed? 

To this day, many “stumble” at the very thought of Jesus.

For many in the world, ‘salvation by faith’ simply does not make sense. Many, in the world, try to make their way to God by earning it. Many believe that doing church work, attending regularly, giving offerings, and acting nicely, will be sufficient.

God’s plan is far greater than this. God asks us to look toward our faith, faith in Jesus Christ.

By putting our faith in Jesus Christ, is to live our life by the lessons taught to us in the life, death, and resurrection, of Jesus Christ.

It is true, if we live our life in accordance with the guideposts of Jesus, we will (or should) never be embarrassed. As we value this knowledge of Christ, and our Christian faith, at the same time we live in a world which would suggest just the opposite.

In many ways, we have replaced the word ‘salvation’ with the word ‘success.’ There is a cultural idea: the more we can amass all the secular values applied to success, the greater our redemption.

At the end of the day, our faith simply asks us to live with humility.

To be able to humble ourselves before God, and before our neighbour is, in my opinion, summed up in the great “Summary of the Law”.

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This is the first and the great commandment.
The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.” Deuteronomy 6.4/ Luke 10.27

Blessings in this week,
Archdeacon Brian+