Even the Stones Would Shout Praise!

“Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed:
‘Blessed is He who comes, the king in God’s name!
All’s well in heaven! Glory in the high places!’
Some Pharisees from the crowd told Him, ‘Teacher, get your disciples under control!’ But He said, “If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.’ " Luke 19: 37-40 (The Message)

If the crowd kept quiet and did not praise and rejoice, even the stones would shout out praise! So Jesus told the criticizing, kill-joy Pharisees as He made His way into Jerusalem on what has been called “The Triumphal Entry.” We’ll say more about this wonderful event on Sunday, Palm Sunday, leading up to Easter Day and Holy Week, but now we want to concentrate on the idea of the very stones, mute, silent though they be, “shouting” out praise to the glory of the Lamb of God Who rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. Again, He had his face set steadfastly on His goal. Nothing, not even the Pharisees who wanted Him dead, and who did not want people adulating and praising Jesus, could stop Him in His purpose!

Jesus was quoting from Habakkuk 2:11: “For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it.” That declaration from the prophet Habakkuk was in the context of warning about bloodshed and iniquity (and was not that the province of the Pharisees, as they sought to have Jesus killed?). They resented and loathed the praise the people gave Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. These praises and Jesus’ popularity with the crowds might be remembered and thwart their plan to have Him killed. But look on a bit further in Habakkuk, within the context of the “stones crying out” in praise:

“For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14).

Now was a time of praise and celebration. People were loving Jesus! Even though on a lowly colt, He rode in splendor. And if the people, the crowd, had not sounded forth His praises, the stones themselves would have shouted out and praised Him! God, indeed, was in His heaven. All was right with the world! (As Robert Browning, poet, noted in “Pippa Passes”!)

“All nature sings and ‘round me rings/The music of the spheres!” So go the wonderful lyrics to our hymn of praise, “This Is My Father’s World!” How long has it been since you clapped your hands in sheer joy at the majesty and glory of the Lord? If we do not express our praise, the very stones, and all of nature, do so, all the time, all the time! Theirs will be the joy of praise! Why let these be the only ones to declare the glory of the Lord? It is in our province to do so, beings that we are, created in the very image of God Himself!

“I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord…
Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord. . .
Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.
You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.” (Psalm 118, 17, 19, 26, 28)

Rejoice, along with the stones and the sky, the earth and the seas!
Jesus is Lord! Selah.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, March 23, 2010