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When the Rejected Stone Becomes the Cornerstone

Text: Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'? Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom’ (Matthew 21:42).

Friends as such we gather at the table every Sunday, may I speak in the name of Jesus Christ the One who holds us together as Church. And please permit me to share something with you so that you may continue to know more about me and my African background. I was born and grew up in Nigeria as an adult and started to raise a family. As you might know, Nigeria is the most populous Black nation on earth. And I’d like to start with something very familiar that some of us might not know.

In the 1980s, the World Bank told Nigeria: you cannot make films. You have no infrastructure, no Kodak labs, no Hollywood. No sensations, no nothing! The then builders of global cinema in the west rejected a nation now regarded as the African stone of entertainment for the multi-billion dollar thriving movie industry which also includes Afrobeat music. So, what did Nigerian filmmakers do? They picked up VHS cameras, shot a film in 10 days in a living room in Lagos, sold it in the market, and created what we now have as Nollywood. We call this “African Magic – Channel” dedicated to one of the major media channels called Multi-Choice on Satellite DSTV.

Today, Nollywood is the second largest film industry on earth by output of 2,500 films a year. This is worth an estimated $6.4B and about 2.3% of Nigeria's GDP. UNESCO ranked it second for output in 2009 and it's held that title since. Nollywood is watched by over 200 million people around the world. This has increased and spread from the entire continent of Africa to all over the world. We now watch movies from Nigerian Nollywood in various genres on Netflix, Prime Video, among several other major media platforms.  

Friends, my point here is trying to make a point when any of us feels rejected, there is hope with something in the offing only if we take what is rejected to recreate with optimism. “The stone the builders rejected became the Cornerstone.” The same thing with the Afrobeat some of us listen to and enjoy in North America today, I’d like to say this with all sense of humility tonight my great Uncle Fela Anikulapo Kuti is the progenitor of Afrobeat. Uncle Fela was born to an Anglican Family (in our Home Church); son of an Anglican priest and used his music as a message of hope of a common human on the streets of Lagos to advocate for equal human rights, equity and justice for everyone. Until this day, his music has impacted the world, (his song: "Human Right is Everyone’s Right") standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our Big Brother Bob Marley from the Caribbean with stories of liberation and emancipation through music such as “Redemption Song.” Yes, Fela Kuti received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. He became the first African artist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy. May I also say that the attention of global entertainment is not only shifting to Africa, but to where we are right now with our siblings in the indigenous communities across this country through the Canadian Project of Truth & Reconciliation. This is articulated by using various advocacy platforms and channels for proper governance, music, arts, and creativities to project a unique identity of peoples created by God in this land, blessed and designed by fate with lands on the Turtle Island from coast-to-coast-to-coast as the greatest gifts for the benefit everyone of us to enjoy.

This parallels our context exactly: Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of His day also speak directly to the church today: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This is good news, not bad news!

May I also say that Church History tells us that in the Medieval time of Christianity through the New Order, St. Benedict of Nursia who lived during the late 5th and early 6th centuries knew this back in his day in 529 AD, when he left Rome because Rome thought it owned Christianity. He went to a mountain and built a small monastery with a Rule that said: “All are to be welcomed as Christ.” That whatever we have as humans we need to share everything with our neighbours. And His Rule was the New Order that shaped Europe for the next 1000 years — monasteries became centres of agriculture, education, manuscript copying, hospitality, and prayer, while the Roman Empire was collapsing around them. That's why Pope Paul VI named him Patron of Europe. That tiny, rejected stone became the cornerstone that saved European Christianity for 1000 years. For us at St. George’s in Winnipeg we are rooted in what we believe as:

Guided by the Holy Spirit, we commit ourselves to respond to this call in love and service and so more fully live the life of Christ.

Therefore, every stranger is welcomed as Christ, because the church is a table, not a fortress. We do not own Christ the Cornerstone, Christ owns us and we are anchored by a free space open to all.

Jesus, the Cornerstone, was rejected outside the vineyard and beyond the city gates, crucified as a criminal. Yet God raised Him for the redemption of all humanity—including those who rejected Him. Today we should not be surprised that Christ is still being rejected whenever His name is used to close tables to people in need, deny shelter to newcomers, exclude siblings of different sexual orientations, or exploit and pollute the earth for profit. But the One whom people rejected is the very One who holds the whole building together. So, let us open ourselves to everyone and anytime we find ourselves in that space with Christ, because we receive both grace and a calling: we are the new tenants, entrusted for a time with God’s vineyard. May we therefore bear the fruits of the kingdom—welcome instead of exclusion, show compassion instead of indifference, do justice instead of exploitation, and help give hope instead of despair. So, this week, choose one act of faith that makes Christ’s welcome visible, not rejected. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

With gratitude and blessings,

Reverend Wilson