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

Zaccheus Trusts Jesus

“And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.” --Luke 19:5-6 (NKJV)

“Zaccheus was a wee little man,
And a wee little man was he;
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.”

Do you remember that Vacation Bible School and Sunday School song from your childhood days? The very first I learned about Zacchaeus was that this person small of stature wanted to see Jesus as He and his disciples passed through the town of Jericho. I learned the song taught to me when I was a small child attending my country church, Choestoe. There I received a firm foundation of biblical truth that led me, like Zaccheus, to see the Lord.

Imagine the scene. Jesus has set his face steadfastly toward Jerusalem. The time for His death is approaching, and He has been telling the disciples of the impending event with all its consequences. They go through Jericho headed toward Jerusalem. There Zaccheus lived and worked. And, alas, his work was that of despised tax collector for the Roman government. He wanted to see Jesus. That says something of the deep-seated desires of this man whom the public in general had to tolerate but despised because of his job. The crowd pressed in around Jesus. And Zaccheus, being small of stature, selected a vantage point: he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus as he passed by.

Is there a lesson in Zaccheus’ action for us? Sometimes, we have to change vantage points in order to see Jesus. For the press (whether it be job, the company we keep, over-filled schedules, or other pressures) we often cannot draw close to Jesus, see Him, hear His message for us. We, like Zaccheus, have to change positions, go where we can see Jesus above the press. Zacchaeus took necessary steps to see Jesus.

His actions and seeking were rewarded. Jesus saw him in the sycamore tree. Zaccheus had made the choice to see Jesus. Jesus acted on Zaccheus’ choice. “I am going to your house today.” Two important things happened about that visit.

In his own home, Zaccheus made his decision to follow the Lord. But he also knew, after meeting and believing in Jesus, that he had to make restitution for the wrongs he had done. He declared: “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). Jesus leads, even a new believer, to seek a different way of life. The old ways pass away; behold, the believer wants to follow the Lord with a changed lifestyle, a new commitment.

There were the murmurers in Jericho, those who found great fault in Jesus going to the house of Zaccheus the tax collector, the known “sinner” in the town, one who worked at a despised profession. But both Zaccheus and Jesus could overlook the criticism. What mattered was that salvation came to Zaccheus, to the despised house of the tax collector. He was in the line of Abraham’s children, the one to whom God’s promise had been given centuries before. By lineage but especially by choice, short Zaccheus stood tall and believed Jesus’ words: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Zaccheus came down from the sycamore tree and into the Kingdom of God. Praise be to God for his example to us who read and sing about this little man who sought and found Jesus!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, March 16, 2010