The Cornerstone

27Mar
Have you not read this scripture:

 “The stone that the builders rejected
  has become the cornerstone;
This is the Lord’s doing,
  and it is marvelous in our eyes”?
-Mark 12:10-11

One November day in 1558, the twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth Tudor was reading under an oak tree when she received word that her half-sister Queen Mary I had died, making her Elizabeth I, Queen of England. Elizabeth is said to have fallen to her knees and quoted “This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous our eyes.” (A less-than-humble and perhaps unkind reaction to a sibling’s death, but to be fair Mary had thrown Elizabeth into the Tower of London.)


It had been an unlikely journey for the freshly-minted queen. Her father had beheaded her mother as an alleged traitor when Elizabeth was not yet three, and Elizabeth battled claims of illegitimacy all her life. In quoting these lines of Psalm 118, it’s probable the new queen was at the same time alluding to the words that preceded them: that she herself had been spurned before being chosen as the cornerstone of the nation. 


In quoting that particular passage, Elizabeth was of course also quoting Mark, who was quoting Jesus (who was quoting David … it’s complicated). And in Mark’s timeline, Jesus said these words the same week he was executed as a traitor, only to rise three days later as the King of Kings. The cornerstone of everlasting life.


Setting aside the possibility that Elizabeth was comparing herself to Jesus (again, humility was not her strong suit), she certainly knew the pain of rejection, as did Christ in His humanity. And don’t we all? Being set aside, disregarded, not chosen – it hurts. 


But although we may not all rise from our own knees a queen, as did Elizabeth I, if we choose, we can remain hopeful in the face of any rejection. Because through His sacrifice Jesus has given us the ultimate victory, over death itself. And while it may not take away the sting of rejection completely, it is fitting to remember that in the end, we are chosen. Each of us, forever, by God, through Christ. 


And that, above all, should be marvelous in our eyes.

Musical Reflection - Thomas Tallis - If Ye Love Me Cambridge Singers

O MERCIFUL FATHER, by whose power and strength we may overcome our enemies both bodily and ghostly : grant unto us, O Lord, that, according to our promise made in our baptism, we may overcome the chief enemies of our soul, that is, the desires of the world, the pleasures of the flesh, and the suggestions of the wicked spirit ; and so after lead our lives in holiness and righteousness, that we may serve thee in spirit and truth, and that by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

-adapted from the 1559 Elizabethan Prayer Book

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