Thoughts on the Text
Psalm 118 also features that intriguing “stone which the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone,” often quoted in the New Testament. God uses the unlikely, what the world would toss aside as useless — including you, and me and the church. Martin Luther allegedly said that God can “carve the rotten wood and ride the lame horse.” God’s glory was in a brutally executed teacher whom everybody turned away from, yet one whose grave was sealed with a stone that proved useless in keeping him dead.
The Psalm draws us into a dramatic scene on some day long ago with worshippers crowding around the temple gate and an unforgettable cry: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” How important can a single day be? Life is a continuous blur of days and yet everything can turn on what unfolds in a single day. That was the day my father died. That was the day she said “yes.” That was the day the doctor uttered the word “malignant.” That was the day my son came back home.