{"id":5624,"date":"2026-08-04T08:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5624"},"modified":"2026-08-04T08:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:39:15","slug":"living-stones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/04\/living-stones\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Stones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Each day this month of August we\u2019ll be looking at one of the extraordinary metaphors that the Bible uses to illustrate the nature of our relationship with God.<\/em>

\u201cAs you come to him, the living Stone\u2014rejected by humans but chosen by God\u00a0and precious to him\u2014\u00a0you also, like living stones, are being built\u00a0into a spiritual house\u00a0to be a holy priesthood,\u00a0offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ\u201d (I Peter 2:4-5).

Of all the metaphors that describe what it\u2019s like to be connected to God, none seems quite so cold and impersonal as being a rock.

Rocks don\u2019t think or feel or react. They just\u2026sit there.

If God were calling us this week to be a stone \u2013 and he is \u2013 it sure seems likely that our To Do List will end up looking entirely blank.

But if we step back and take in the bigger picture \u2013 one that includes the spiritual backdrop of the entire ancient Mediterranean world \u2013 we\u2019ll come to appreciate the astonishing way in which God is honoring us through this geological word picture.

Even though we\u2019ve explored this notion in a number of past reflections, our survey of biblical metaphors would be incomplete apart from a fresh look.\u00a0

Let\u2019s begin by reaffirming that the Jesus Movement was launched into a landscape dotted with temples.

As the earliest Christians carried the Good News across the pagan world of the first century, it was impossible not to notice hundreds of sacred spaces and designated \u201cspiritual houses.\u201d

A temple was a place where heaven was assumed to touch Earth.\u00a0The ancient Celts spoke of \u201cthin places\u201d \u2013 sacred precincts where mere mortals, at least for a few moments, could draw closer to the realm of the gods. Construction of the grandest temples was usually undertaken on the tallest hill or ridge in the vicinity.\u00a0In the Greek-speaking world, that would mean the acropolis<\/em> (akro + polis <\/em>= \u201chigh place in the city\u201d).\u00a0

Athens still boasts what has come to be called the<\/em> Acropolis, but many Greek cities had a sacred elevation all their own \u2013 including architectural marvels that continue to amaze visitors in the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0

What happened inside a temple? That depended on whose divine house it happened to be.\u00a0\u00a0

A city might offer a smorgasbord of religious options, depending on the perceived needs of the resident god or goddess.\u00a0Animal sacrifices might be presented. Incense might be burned and prayers offered.\u00a0Some temples functioned as sacred brothels.\u00a0Priests or priestesses might declare forgiveness for wrongs committed or offer guidance concerning future decisions.\u00a0There might be secretive rituals of initiation or immersion into an inner circle of true believers.\u00a0

It’s impossible to overstate how different things were in Jerusalem.\u00a0

If each Greek community was a city with a unique constellation of temples, Israel\u2019s capital was more like a temple surrounded by a city.\u00a0An astonishing 25% of Jerusalem\u2019s real estate was devoted to the one-and-only Jewish temple and its surrounding courts during the time of Jesus.\u00a0The temple was central to every aspect of Jewish life.\u00a0 \u00a0

It\u2019s no surprise, therefore, that a significant number of scenes from the life of Jesus take place near the temple.\u00a0His disciples, his listeners, and his opponents all want to know: What does Jesus think of this extraordinary building where the creator God lives out his unique relationship with Israel?

As we noted earlier this summer, Jesus\u2019 answer shocks his listeners.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

The temple is temporary, he says.\u00a0It\u2019s going to vanish.\u00a0Within a generation it will be reduced to a smoldering ruin. Now that the temple is gone, how can they ever meet with God?\u00a0How can they ever serve the Lord?

Something else that Jesus says is even more shocking.

When pressed to defend his claims to spiritual authority, he declares, \u201cDestroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.\u201d\u00a0His opponents are flabbergasted.\u00a0Jerusalem\u2019s worship center has been under construction for 46 years, and he\u2019s going to match all that work in three days?\u00a0John writes in his gospel, \u201cBut the temple he had spoken of was his body.\u00a0After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said\u201d (John 2:18-22).\u00a0

Jesus, in other words, claims to be the new temple.\u00a0

He has become the meeting place between heaven and Earth.\u00a0He is the place where God can be consulted and where sins are forgiven.\u00a0People will no longer trudge to a particular city and stand on a particular piece of ground in order to experience the creator.\u00a0All those realities have now been transferred to him<\/em>.\u00a0

The biggest surprise, however, awaits us in verses like I Corinthians 3:16.

The apostle Paul, writing to the young Christians living in the temple-saturated city of Corinth, Greece, asks, \u201cDon\u2019t you know [as if it\u2019s common knowledge] that you yourselves are God\u2019s temple, and that God\u2019s Spirit dwells within you?\u201d\u00a0The logic is compelling. If God\u2019s presence is now uniquely available in Jesus, and if Jesus lives within his followers by means of the Holy Spirit, we ourselves have become the place where God resides.\u00a0

The word \u201cyou\u201d in this verse is plural, which means that the whole group of men and women following Jesus comprise a living temple where the one true God chooses to live.\u00a0

Instead of climbing the steps of a beautiful marble structure to bow before representations of gods and goddesses, we can have access to the Father that Jesus talks about by spending time with that woman who, with God\u2019s help, is still dealing with the shame of her past; with that man who sings even the simplest hymns off-key; and with the impoverished family who look to God every day because they have no idea what they\u2019ll be able to give their kids for dinner.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

Has God seriously called such ordinary people to represent his “house”?\u00a0The answer is Yes.\u00a0

Christians routinely speak of going to<\/u><\/em> church, as if God resides at a particular corner that can be located via Google Maps.\u00a0But Paul is making it clear that God’s temple, the church \u2013 the place where he dwells \u2013 is us<\/em>.\u00a0Whenever we are on the move, God is on the move.\u00a0\u00a0

That\u2019s what lies at the heart of Peter\u2019s declaration that we are \u201cliving stones.\u201d We\u2019re not just unmoving, unfeeling chunks of limestone. We\u2019re living<\/em> stones that represent God himself wherever we go.

If you take that thought to heart, your August just became a lot more interesting.\u00a0 \u00a0

Your laundry room and your shopping cart and your Honda Civic and your backyard grill and your table at Starbucks are where heaven and earth meet.\u00a0

Which means you don’t need to schedule a trip to the Parthenon to see a really impressive temple.

Just open up your wallet and take a good long look at that photo on your driver\u2019s license. \u00a0<\/em>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Each day this month of August we\u2019ll be looking at one of the extraordinary metaphors that the Bible uses to illustrate the nature of our relationship with God. \u201cAs you come to him, the living Stone\u2014rejected by humans but chosen by God\u00a0and precious to him\u2014\u00a0you also, like living stones, are being… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1159,297],"class_list":["post-5624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-metaphors","tag-temple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5626,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5624\/revisions\/5626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}