Nobody likes missing opportunities. Nobody. But the only thing that is worse than missing an opportunity is missing an opportunity because you deliberately shot down the idea before it became a reality. Just ask George Bell, CEO of an internet search engine known as “Excite.” In 1999 Mr. Bell was approached by a small startup search engine known as Google who wanted to be purchased for $750,000 by Excite. George Bell and the leaders at Excite turned the offer down not believing the young search engine with the weird name would ever amount to anything. Google is now worth $382 billion as of May 2014. Yikes!
Or how about Western Union’s president William Orton. Orton and Western Union were riding high as they had a monopoly on the telegraph industry when Gardiner Green Hubbard offered to sell Western Union the patent for the telephone for a mere $100,000 in 1876. Western Union left the offer on the table because they believed the telephone lacked “commercial possibilities.” Whoops!
Or how about this one. In 1961 an unknown boyband with mop-cut haircuts from Liverpool known as “The Beatles” had an audition for Decca Records in the hopes to land their first record deal. Mike Smith, a representative of Decca, opted not to sign the group saying that, “guitar groups are on the way out.” The Beatles went on to be the top-selling band in the history of the world while Decca Records on the other hand…well, let’s just say there’s a reason you haven’t heard of them.
Just like all of these companies, we too have some choices to make this Easter. Some of them won’t be terribly significant-what to wear, what to cook for lunch, where to take the family picture, where to do the Easter egg hunt, what type of candy to put in the Easter eggs, and so on. But there is one decision whose significance will stretch well beyond Easter lunch and into eternity. The Jews living in Bible times had a well-known parable that described this decision. The parable goes a little something like this:
When Solomon’s Temple was being constructed in 966 BC, it was forbidden for the sound of hammers and chisels to be heard at the work site because it was a place of worship. And everybody knows that you can’t worship the Lord with the clinking of hammers and nails going on in the background! It had to be quiet. This meant that the construction of every 20 ton stone had to be crafted several miles away in a quarry. This also meant that a well laid out plan had to be put into place well before the first stone was ever built since the stone masons and the builders were not working at the same construction site.
When the day finally arrived for the construction to begin, the stone masons sent the first and most important stone-the cornerstone-to the Temple construction site. When the builders saw the unique size and shape of the stone they scratched their head and were puzzled by what this odd stone was to be used for. After they received the next shipment of stones that were to be used for the Temple’s foundation, the builders assumed the cornerstone was a productions gaffe and tossed the stone off the side of the cliff to rest with the other misfit stones.
Over the course of several years the Temple was finally ready for the crowning jewel-the cornerstone. The builders sent word to the masons asking for the cornerstone to be delivered, only to receive a note in return saying that they had already done so. After frantically combing the construction site several times over hoping to find the cornerstone, someone remembered what they had done with the first stone they had received.
The workers huddled around the cliff’s edge with their shoulders slumped and their heads hanging just like a dog who knows he is guilty. The workers realized their mistake, they had rejected the cornerstone. They had thrown away the most significant piece of the Temple and now had to go haul the massive stone up a giant cliff.
This parable became as well-known as Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny among the Jews living in Old Testament times. And from this story a cultural proverb came about-“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This proverb became so popular that it was even mentioned in the Bible…six times!
The Jews knew this saying like the back of their hand and they knew what it meant-don’t write off something just because you don’t understand it. But despite their knowledge of this quote, they ignored the proverb’s wisdom when they wrote off Jesus as just another good man, a sharp teacher, or even as a crazy lunatic because they expected their Messiah to come in riding on a white horse as a conquering king to overthrow the oppressing Roman rule rather than a humble baby wrapped in swaddling clothe. And because they couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of God putting on flesh and humbly living amongst His creation, they rejected the Cornerstone.
They figuratively looked down on Him throughout His three year ministry and then literally looked up at Him as He hung on the cross after they sentenced Him to a gruesome death on the cross. He hung alone, by Himself, rejected. But a short three days later, “The stone the builders rejected [became] the cornerstone” (Psalms 118:22, NIV) of our salvation through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Just like Google, The Beatles, and the telephone, Jesus was cast off by the wayside much like people discard their trash. And the rejection of Christ is not something that only happened in 33 AD, it’s something that still happens today. Jesus is still the cornerstone of our lives. He is still the centerpiece of the universe. But just like the builders at Solomon’s Temple, we too have the choice to accept and cherish Jesus or to ignore and reject Him.
You can make some huge mistakes in this life-just ask Excite, Western Union, or Decca Records. These mistakes can cost you thousands, millions, or in some cases, even billions of dollars. But, if I can quote Jesus, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36, NIV).
The real mistake is not simply losing money. The real mistake is losing your life-both here on earth and forever in eternity. It all comes down to one decision which echoes throughout eternity. Let today be the day that you make that decision to make Jesus your cornerstone.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
