A Spiritual House

by: Steven Bouma-Prediger

Years ago I worked with Habitat for Humanity. I recall one house project in which I was asked to shingle the roof. It was hard work. Years later I worked with others in my church to tear down much of the interior of a building we were later to refurbish. It, too, was hard work, but much easier than building something from scratch.

In this text Peter uses a building metaphor to help us understand the gospel. Come to Jesus, the living stone who, though rejected by mortals, was chosen by God. As if you, too, were living stones, gathered and set in place by God, “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,” so as to become “a holy priesthood.” The pronouns here are plural and the verb (“let yourselves be built”) is a passive imperative. In other words, this is a corporate (not individual) endeavor, and being built into a spiritual house is not something we can do, but something we must allow God to do with us.

In addition, holy does not mean morally perfect but rather set apart for service to God. So becoming a holy priesthood means that collectively as followers of Jesus we are called to be the means by which God is present on earth. We are a channel of grace, a living sacrament, a house used by the Holy Spirit.