Tuesday, May 19. Romans 9:30-33.

Today’s reading happens right in the middle of a new, sub-argument that Paul is building. He’s been telling the people, in chapters 1-8, that God loves everybody, and that Gentiles are equal with Jews when it comes to God’s love. In chapters 9-11 he responds to the question the Jews would naturally have in response: What was the point of the Law and the whole Jewish thing in the first place?

I’ve placed a video at the bottom of this devo that is a nice overview of this whole section to give context (special thanks to The Bible Project for these helpful tools).

For now, I leave you with one simple thought for today. Jesus is both a stumbling stone and a cornerstone. A cornerstone is a special stone that forms the basis for the rest of a building. Its lines and angles form the basis upon which all the rest of the stones, and the walls they will form, are built. The Jewish leaders of Paul’s day were trying to construct a “building” (humanity) based upon the observance of the rules and regulations of the Law, but God has been trying to construct this building based upon faith and the grace of God.

Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s building of Grace through faith. The builders of the “Law-house” rejected this stone. It was too rugged. It wasn’t straight and perfect. They didn’t know what to do with it, so they stumbled over it and tossed it aside. Then God built this crazy, freeform building called Grace from it, where every kind of stone fits.

Welcome home.

Now check out this video.

http://youtu.be/ZuEsGgIFdso