The Stones
Scheduled for March 23, Palm Sunday
(Luke 19:37-40 NIV) When he
came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole
crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the
miracles they had seen: {38} "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of
the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" {39} Some
of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your
disciples!" {40} "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep
quiet, the stones will cry out."
It
is one of the most astonishing statements in the history of mankind. Consider
it well. Throughout all the Old Testament we have images of nature praising
God -- figures of speech which include the trees clapping their hands. If
nature gains a voice, it is only to praise her creator. Here, then, is a man,
riding on a donkey in triumph and peace, into Jerusalem. The religious leaders
of the day tell this man to rebuke his disciples, to quiet them down, to keep
them from blasphemy. His reply: if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
The
stones will cry out? For whom would the very rocks themselves break into
praise? Such a miracle is unknown in history. It would imply the end of the
universe, of nature, as we know it. The laws of physics themselves would be
set aside. How can a man make such a statement?
Unless,
of course, the man is Jesus, the Christ. It is his explicit claim to be the
creator of the physical universe, of all that exists. This is indeed what has
been taught of him since the beginning of the church:
(Col 1:16-17 NIV) For by him
all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by
him and for him. {17} He is before all things, and in him all things hold
together.
Here,
then, is the explicit claim of Jesus Christ to be the creator of all things --
the one from whom you and I borrow the very idea of existence. And what is he
doing?
He
is riding to his death. He came for the explicit, expressed purpose of dying
for the sins of mankind -- for you and for me. It is his sacrifice, in coming
to be among us as well as dying for us, that we celebrate at communion. We are
apt to think of Palm Sunday as being a time of triumph. It is; but it is a
time which foretells the triumph to come, when He returns again. For this
moment, the triumph is transitory. His disciples praise him; the rocks do
not.
In
the Lord’s Supper we proclaim his death until He comes. When he does,
will the “very rocks” cry out? And when they do, will you be prepared to
receive your king with joy, or with shame?
