GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 12:11
Marvelous
Several years ago—in the ’60s!—I was attending Bible school in St. Louis, Missouri. Leaving my job at 8:00 a.m., I drove by the construction site for the Gateway Arch on the way to class. Day by day, I watched as the workers dug huge holes for the foundation and then began laying the triangular pieces one on top of the other. At one point, the workers installed a “creeper derrick” to keep both legs aligned as both sides rose. On October 28, 1965, workers hoisted the last triangular section—the keystone—and, using precise alignment techniques, fitted it into place, completing the structure. It was a marvelous sight.
On December 6, 1884, people gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to watch workers install the aluminum capstone atop the Washington Monument. Construction began on the monument in 1848; it was paused during the Civil War due to political disputes and lack of funds, and resumed in 1876. It was completed in 1884. Newspaper accounts record great applause and celebration as workers settled the final piece into place. It was marvelous.
n Jesus’ parable of the vineyard—delivered to the temple authorities and audience, likely on Tuesday, in the temple court—he quoted the Psalmist’s account of another marvelous event (Psalm 118:22-23). In the temple’s construction, a stone was transported to the site that the builders found no use for and cast aside. In construction, however, the workers found the rejected stone to be an exact fit for the cornerstone, the stone upon which they would construct the building. Then Jesus concluded his lesson: “This came to be from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” (Mark 12:11)
In this long question for the temple authorities, Jesus told them they knew the story—they had read it—that which was rejected became the cornerstone. This reversal was God’s deliberate act—what men disregarded, God established, and did so in a way that left people marveling. They might reject the Messiah, they might cast him aside—crucify him—but God’s purpose cannot be thwarted by their rejection. That lesson was true for the temple authorities, and it is still true today.
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