Psalm 118

What’s Happening?

Psalm 118 was traditionally sung at Passover. During this annual festival, God’s people remembered their shared history of experiencing God’s love and rescue (Exodus 12:17). When they were surrounded by evil enemies in Egypt, God was their refuge and rescuer. Even when they were rejected and exiled into the sea of evil nations around them, God brought them back to their home in Jerusalem and its temple (Ezra 1:5). And so, a multi-ethnic choir thanks God for being good to them (Psalm 118:2-4). Israelites, priests, and those who left their false gods to worship the God of Israel celebrate together that their story begins and ends with God’s unending love (Psalm 118:1,29). 

God saves the rejected one and elevates him. This has always been Israel’s story. And as a representative of his people’s story, the voice of Israel’s king rises above the choir. Though he has been in anguish, surrounded by evil enemies that nearly destroyed him, God rescues him from death and gives him victory (Psalm 118:5,7). Armed with God’s strength, he levels the evil forces that swarm him like bees (Psalm 118:10-12). Because God elevates the rejected one, no enemy can come against him (Psalm 118:6,8-9). And God saving the king causes all God’s people to celebrate (Psalm 118:15-16).

A triumphant procession escorts the once-rejected king to the temple gates and God’s presence (Psalm 118:19-21). Here, the parade of worshippers marvels at God’s power that turns rejection into salvation. They sing that the stone the builders rejected has now become the most important stone in the building (Psalm 118:22-23). The king who was once cast aside is restored on God’s great day of salvation. Because God restored the representative of Israel, all God’s people share this hope (Psalm 118:24-26). They can trust and sing that God will save them and bring them into his temple presence in unending love (Psalm 118:27-29).

Whereis the Gospel?

Centuries later, the words of Psalm 118 echoed in the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus rode in as the triumphant king on Passover week (Matthew 21:9). But the ones who should have welcomed their king would be the very ones who reject him. Repeating Israel’s story, Jesus would suffer rejection yet be rescued by God from his enemies.

Once in the temple in Jerusalem, the religious leaders confront Jesus and challenge his kingship. So Jesus quotes Psalm 118, where the builders reject the most important stone in the building. In rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting God’s chosen king (Matthew 21:40-42). He is the foundation of the kingdom God is building. This angers the religious leaders, who ultimately reject Jesus just as he said they would (Matthew 21:43-46). They arrest Jesus and have him killed on a cross outside the city. God’s chosen king is surrounded by evil enemies and rejected by his people. 

But even though he was rejected as king and cast away like an unwanted stone, Jesus’ rejection became the foundation for his people’s salvation. God saved his chosen king from death (Acts 4:10-12). Jesus rose from the grave, defeating all his enemies.  Even though God’s people rejected him, God’s unending love has not rejected them. Jesus is the king who rescues us from our enemies and, through his rejection and sacrifice, brings his people back into God’s presence.

Jesus is the foundation stone of his people. After God raised him to the highest throne in heaven, his disciples proclaimed his kingship in Jerusalem. They told a multi-ethnic crowd that Jesus’ rejection and death resulted in him being elevated to the highest throne in heaven (Acts 2:5, 23-33). They tell the temple religious leaders that they are the builders who rejected Jesus when they condemned him to death. But God made the rejected stone the most important stone of the temple (Acts 4:11). And now, people from all nations are being rescued and built like stones into the temple Jesus founded with his life. We are the temple where God’s presence dwells and where we experience his enduring love forever (1 Peter 2:7). When we are rejected like Israel and Jesus, we are actually being built on the foundation of Jesus, where God dwells with us. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who raises up the rejected.  And may you see Jesus as the one who was rejected but has now become our salvation.