I just read Luke 20: 17-18 and don’t understand what the Lord was saying. “But Jesus looked at them and said, What then is this that is written : The stone the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces ; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
Can you help me clarify this?
Jesus came to be the Messiah of Israel but the leaders rejected Him because He didn’t fulfill their expectations. In Luke 20:17 He was referring to Himself as the stone the builders rejected. This phrase comes from Psalm 118:22 which they believed to be a psalm about the Messiah.
According to Psalm 51:17 the sacrifice God desires of us is to have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. A broken spirit and a contrite heart means we’ve been convicted of our sinfulness and have abandoned our self will. When that happens we are said to have been broken and we “fall” on Him to ask for His mercy and His salvation. Those who don’t fall on Him and either refuse to acknowledge their sins or insist upon earning their own salvation will be destroyed.