TAIZÉ

Commented Bible Passages

 
These Bible meditations are meant as a way of seeking God in silence and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a day, take a moment to read the Bible passage with the short commentary and to reflect on the questions which follow. Afterwards, a small group of 3 to 10 people can meet to share what they have discovered and perhaps for a time of prayer.

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2008

January

1 Peter 2:4-6.9-10: Living Stones
Come to Christ, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
 
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:4-6.9-10 TNIV)

For centuries, the Temple of Jerusalem formed the center of the religion of ancient Israel. An impressive building set on Mount Zion, it was seen as the site of God’s presence, where priests of the lineage of Aaron brought offerings to God in the name of the people. These animal and vegetal offerings expressed believers’ desire to enter into fellowship with their Lord, expressing their gratefulness by giving back to him something of what he had given them in his generosity.

An early Christian leader, writing to believers of non-Jewish origin, borrowed these elements from the religion of old while at the same time transforming them. He made use of them to explain to his hearers their new identity as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Taking up words spoken by the prophet Hosea centuries earlier to express God’s forgiveness of his unfaithful people (see Hosea 1–2), the apostle affirms that his hearers are now part of the people that God chose to be the primary witness to his love in the world. This is true not because of their merits, but solely on account of God’s compassion, shown in tangible fashion by the coming of Christ for all.

For Christians, the locus of the divine presence is not a geographical location or a building but human beings. First of all Christ, described elsewhere as the true Temple, the place of meeting with God (see John 2:21), but here instead as the “cornerstone” of that Temple. His disciples are the living stones who cluster around him to form the house of God. At the same time, they are compared to the priests who serve in this new Temple. In other words, it is by the life of the Christian community, when it remains faithful to its founder, that the world will discover the true identity of God and enter into a relationship with him. That is why it is so important for Christians to live in such a way that they reveal an authentic image of the invisible God. They do this above all by their mutual love, open to all.

- What does it mean for us to “come to Christ,” since he no longer lives among us on earth?

- What can we do to root our lives more deeply in gratefulness to God “who has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light”?

- By what way of life can we be signs of the presence of the invisible God?



Other bible meditations:

Last updated: 1 March 2024