Unavoidable

Re:Verse passage – Romans 9:30-33 (day four)

It puzzled me for a long time that Christ is described as a stumbling stone in this passage, quoting the prophet Isaiah. Jesus is a lot of things – the sacrificial lamb, the light of the world, the bread of life, the good shepherd – but a stumbling stone? Doesn’t this seem to paint Jesus in a negative light?

What the prophet is getting at here is that Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose in the world, is an inevitability. He is unavoidable. We may try our best in this earthly life to avoid him by not praying or attending church, but he is ultimately unavoidable. There will be a day when we stand before him. For those who try to find righteousness in themselves, who try to go about things in their own way, who maintain an evil, unbelieving heart, who look to themselves to try, and ultimately fail, to find fulfillment – to them Christ is a stumbling block. They encounter him with a stubborn heart and trip right over him, unwilling yield to his ways and grace.

But to those who recognize their own sin and inability to fulfill the law see him for who he really is. They encounter him in the road and rather than trip over him, they fall at his feet in praise. We all will encounter Christ standing in our path. Will he be our stumbling stone or our cornerstone?