Luke 19:39-40 (NIV) Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
To these Pharisees, the shouting and overt joy of the disciples seemed inappropriate. After all, the whole crowd, walking into the city of Jerusalem, the throne of God, for one of the most awesome remembrances of the year, was being swept along in their enthusiasm, and even joining in with the chanting.
And what chanting it was! It seemed to them that Jesus’ disciples actually believed that Jesus Himself was the Messiah! That was entirely inappropriate, not to mention dangerous! They themselves, while they couldn’t deny that Jesus’ teachings were amazing and His miracles spectacular, had rejected Him as the Messiah because He didn’t fit their expectations. But now here He was allowing His followers to get the whole crowd stirred up, believing that He was the Messiah riding into the city to take over!
Something had to be done before things got entirely out of hand. So they demanded that Jesus silence His disciples, that He stop them from proclaiming Him the Messiah!
Jesus’ response is one of His most clear acknowledgements that the Messiah was precisely who He was: “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” The Messiah was finally arriving to set men free from the mastery of sin and death, in fulfillment of God’s ages-long prophecies And that required celebration. If the humans were prevented from raising their voices to celebrate it, God would cause the very stones of the city walls to cry out the glad tidings!
Father, this far removed from the event, we have a hard time realizing just how big a deal this entry of Jesus into the city really was. And it is amazing to me that, in spite of the mountain of evidence, the powers that be refused to accept who Jesus was, instead of simply falling on their faces in worship. Help us, Lord to recapture the awe and wonder for ourselves of who Jesus is, and to continually raise our voices in praise, so that the rocks won’t have to do our job for us. Amen.