Casting Stones

I'm wondering about 1 Peter 2:4-10 today, having preached it this morning (you can listen to the sermon below). I'm thinking especially about all the rock imagery in there. Jesus is the Living Stone (v. 4), we're also living stones (v. 5), the scriptures promised a foundation stone (v. 6a) and cornerstone for Zion (v. 6b), which is Jesus, who is a precious stone (v. 7a), a rejected stone (v. 7b), and the capstone (v. 7c; interesting, he's the foundation and the capstone, the first and last); he's also a stumbling stone (v. 8a) and a rock of offense (v. 8b).

That's 9 rock references in all of 5 verses-- a veritable land-slide.

And I'm just wondering: is it any coincidence that this "rocky" passage was written by Simon Peter? After all, after his encounter with the Lord Jesus really did make him into a living rock. Maybe you remember: he was only "Simon" until his Master gave him the name Peter, which, of course means "The Rock." And he's been known as The Rock ever since. Not to psychoanalyze things too much, but it's probably not for nothing that The Rock should be homing in on all this stone imagery with such perseveration (although it's interesting, too, that the Greek word petra is only used once in all those 9 references; every other time it's lithos-- stone).

Anyway, here's the sermon:

1 Peter 2:4-10: The House that God Built