7. How was Jesus Christ rejected as a “living stone”?

⁷ As Peter pointed out, Jesus was “rejected, it is true, by men.” Especially the proud religious leaders saw nothing in the Son of God that they regarded as worthy of imitation. They did not appreciate his exemplary compassion and love for humankind. When Jesus gave spiritual help to persons known to be sinners, the religious leaders objected: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2) They witnessed how the Son compassionately made use of the sabbath to open the eyes of the blind, to heal the sick and to free the crippled from their affliction. But instead of rejoicing and praising God, the religious leaders were filled with rage and plotted to kill him. (Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:7-11; 14:1-6) They told a blind man whose sight had been restored: “This is not a man from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath.” (John 9:16) Finally, the Jewish supreme court, the Sanhedrin, sentenced Jesus to death on the false charge of blasphemy. (Matthew 26:63-66) With a view to carrying out the penalty, the Jewish rulers changed the charge against Jesus from blasphemy to sedition. At their instigation, the Roman governor, Pilate, ordered the execution of him on a stake like the worst kind of political criminal.​—Luke 23:1-24.

The unbelievers, however, would experience great loss. The apostle Peter continued:

“But to those not believing, ‘the identical stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock-mass of offense.’ These are stumbling because they are disobedient to the word. To this very end they were also appointed.”​—1 Peter 2:7b, 8.

10. How did Jesus Christ become “a stone of stumbling and a rock-mass of offense”?

¹⁰ Because the prominent Jewish religious leaders refused to accept the Son of God as their ideal and to build their hopes for everlasting life on him, they lost out on the grand privilege of being Kingdom heirs. Jesus Christ had warned them: “The [repentant] tax collectors and the [repentant] harlots are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 21:31) The course taken by those religious leaders did not prevent Jesus from becoming “the head of the corner,” the crowning stone of “a spiritual house.” Moreover, in treating Jesus Christ as a stone that was unsuitable for their building work, these men were at the same time still forced to reckon with him as a stone that stood in their way. They could not ignore God’s Son even after his death and resurrection, for his faithful disciples boldly continued witnessing about him. (Acts 5:28) Thus Jesus Christ became a rock over which all who persist in unbelief stumble to a calamitous fall. Just as those who show themselves to be genuine believers are appointed to salvation, so the ones who prove themselves to be unbelievers are appointed to experience loss. The Son of God even said with reference to himself: “Everyone falling upon that stone will be shattered. As for anyone upon whom it falls, it will pulverize him.”​—Luke 20:18.