From Forward Day by Day
Matthew 3:9 God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
For years, I understood this line from Matthew as a warning from Jesus to the Pharisees: “if you aren’t living the God-filled life of God’s children, then God will find others.” Now, in this spring season, I am aware of the reality that God has raised all of us children from the stones.
Our created nature (of dust) is from the stones. We literally build up our bodies from the dust of ancient stones as we harvest and consume vegetables that have grown from the dust of the field. So, too in this Easter season have we been raised spiritually from the stones that would bind us to death. Jesus led the way of dying and rising to life when he rose up from behind the stone that sealed his tomb. So too are we called from stones to rise to life as children of God.
I now understand this passage to be a declaration of our state of being. I celebrate being one of those children who has been raised up from the stones. A member of God’s family, raised to new life, an heir of the God of the living.
