Bible Passage: Psalm 118
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: Wednesday February 24, 2021

Bulletin Lent 2nd Midweek

This is the day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Text: Psalm 118

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ, our Cornerstone,

In these Wednesday services throughout the season of Lent, we will be taking time to consider some of the psalms which our Savior quoted. Specifically, we’ll be considering psalms which he quoted during the week of his passion. We might look at the book of Psalms as the prayer book of the Bible. It is a collection of 150 prayers including the prayers of God’s people and the prayers of God’s Anointed, the Messiah. At the same time, the book of Psalms is also the hymnal of the Bible. The Jews sang the Psalms regularly in their worship, and they assigned certain Psalms to be sung on certain holy days, just like we assign certain hymns to the holy days on our church calendar.

Psalm 118, the psalm to which we give our attention today, was a psalm sung by the Jews on the Feast of the Passover. In fact, there is a collection of 6 psalms that the Jews called the Passover Hallel, Psalm 113 through Psalm 118, and they sang these 6 psalms on the evening of the Passover. Now just picture how that singing went on the most significant Passover, the evening before our Lord was put to death on the cross.

It was a Thursday evening, and from house to house all throughout Jerusalem, Jewish families and friends were gathered around their dinner tables. They had slaughtered their Passover lambs. They had roasted them over fire. They had eaten the meat of these lambs along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And now with the supper completed, from house to house all throughout Jerusalem, Jewish families and friends opened their mouths and began to sing. One of the songs they sang was Psalm 118.

The common people and their children opened their mouths and sang, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD,” and perhaps as those words rang out from their lungs, they remembered that man on a donkey, riding over a green carpet of palm fronds, coming down the Mount of Olives. Perhaps they thought of Jesus and how they had sung these same words to him just four days earlier when he entered Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the chief priests and the Pharisees with their families and their disciples opened their mouths and sang, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and perhaps as those words escaped from their lips, they remembered how that infuriating teacher, Jesus, quoted those same words against them. Perhaps they thought of his parable comparing them to wicked tenants in a vineyard. Meanwhile, in another house, in an upper room, Jesus and his disciples opened their mouths and sang, “I will not die. No, I will live, and I will proclaim the works of the LORD,” and as those words went out from his mouth, the Savior undoubtedly thought about their fulfillment that would come on the third day.

This psalm, Psalm 118, is woven throughout the Holy Week narrative. It was on the mind of the people. It was on the mind of their leaders. It was on the mind of Christ that week, and that is no accident. This psalm prophesies what happens on Holy Week. It preaches about the Messiah and his sufferings and his deliverance. As we take up this psalm and let it preach to us today, we will see Jesus, the Rejected but Victorious Stone.

That’s the image of the Savior given in verse 22 of the psalm: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” So God’s anointed, the Messiah arrived just as God had promised, but the very people who should have received him instead turned against him and became his enemies. The builders, the religious leaders of the Jewish people, rejected Jesus and persecuted him. He was a stone that they decided they did not need. He was a stone they decided they would be better off without.

So as Messiah speaks in this psalm, he acknowledges that he has human enemies and these human enemies intend his downfall. Nonetheless, Messiah’s trust remains firmly in the LORD. In verse 6 of the psalm, he says, “The LORD is with me. I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?”

There’s a temptation when people are against us, a temptation to give way to fear. It’s the temptation that toppled Peter when he stood in the high priest’s courtyard and denied that he knew the Savior. And just think, the words of this psalm would have been on Peter’s lips just a few hours earlier that evening. With the LORD on Peter’s side, there was no need to fear. There was nothing to be gained by being afraid. But Peter was weak, and he gave way to fear at the prospect of persecution.

The Scriptures guarantee persecution, though. They guarantee persecution for the Messiah and for all who follow Messiah. As the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy, “Indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” [3:12]. There are times when doing or saying what is godly can hurt your reputation or lose you friends or take away opportunities for the future. All of us face such situations in our lives. So how have you done in staving off fear? How have you done in perfectly trusting the LORD? If you have failed like I have, then let us look to Jesus, our Messiah. Let us hear him in this psalm, and let us see how he takes our place, and perfectly fears, loves, and trusts in the LORD above all.

He says in this psalm, “The LORD, who is with me, is my helper, so I will look in triumph on my enemies. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in human benefactors,” [7-9]. The other side of the temptation to fear is the temptation to misplace our trust, and that is the sin of Jesus’ enemies. They suppose that by their own strength of will they can keep themselves secure. So when Jesus comes calling for repentance and faith, they do exactly what the wicked tenants in the parable do. They throw Jesus out of the city. They put him to death on a cross. They suppose that they will secure their place and their nation by executing the only-begotten Son of God the Father.

Jesus, on the other hand, entrusts his life into the hands of his heavenly Father. Jesus trusts that the LORD will save him and will give him the victory over all of his enemies. So he goes unafraid into the nest of the hornets. He goes to the vineyard knowing that the tenants will kill their master’s son. He goes to fulfill the LORD’s will and to redeem with his blood all who are lost in sin. In his arrival to the city the people greet him, calling out, “Hosanna,” which means “Save us now,” and he comes to do just that. He gives himself over for our salvation, and he waits for the LORD to raise him up in due time.

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the LORD. It is marvelous in our eyes,” [22-23]. In the end, Messiah is not put to shame. His enemies have rejected him. They have tortured him and killed him. They have done all they can to oppose him. But they have lost, because they cannot defeat the will of the LORD. Jesus is raised to life, and onto him, God builds a temple of believers.

Though you and I have failed to be perfect, Jesus, our Messiah has fulfilled all righteousness for us. Though we have deserved the LORD’s enduring wrath, Jesus has absorbed that wrath in himself in his own death. After his resurrection, Jesus forgave and restored Peter who had been fearful and had denied his Lord. Likewise, he is gracious to forgive and restore us for every denial we have made. He gives us the Spirit to sustain us in the faith when the time of trial and persecution comes again. Though there are many who may oppose us and persecute us, the LORD is with us for Jesus’ sake. He is our helper because of what Jesus has done. He is our strength and our song. He has become salvation for us.

So the psalm says, “This is the day the LORD has made,” [24]. He has not merely saved the day. He has not merely won the day. He has made the day of Messiah’s victory and of our salvation. He has directed all things so that our sins have been paid for. He has seen the suffering of our Savior and has delivered him into his glory. He has caused his kingdom to come to us, giving us his Spirit and bringing us to faith. He has shown that he truly is good and that his mercy endures forever.

All glory be to God that the rejected stone has become the victorious stone. All glory be to God that he shares the victory with us.

Amen.

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