Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (NTA)

1 Peter 2:1-12

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and

“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Keep your conduct holy! Long for pure spiritual milk! Desire that which is holy! You should cling to the Rock of our Salvation. We have been joined together into a spiritual house, as you have become living stones. This is how God treats his people.

It may seem strong for Peter to refer to us as infants, craving only milk. But we are not of great learning. We are still in need of further instruction. Our life should be full of corrections, and molding us into better people. Just as the potter and the clay, we are the clay and God the Holy Spirit is our potter continuing to mold us into better people.

God has given us a way to follow, Jesus Christ and his example. He has given us a Law to guide us these are the Ten Commandments. This means that we likewise need to speak out against evil in our midst. We need to continue to allow ourselves to fall upon the cornerstone.

The stone was rejected, cast out of the city, and killed. It has become the foundation on which all other stones are formed. We crash upon this rock with all our sin and guilt and have them chipped away. It is our Lord and Savior who smooth out our jagged edges. It is Jesus Christ who has died for our sins, and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We are his treasured possession, which he continues to make holy.