Luke 19:28-40
28After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37Now as he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying,
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
___________________________________
Luke tells us what the crowd looked like that day. They were a lot like those stones that John the Baptist talked about there by the river Jordan. It looked like those stones had come alive. It looked like all those invited to the wedding banquet in Jesus’ parable: “Go out into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” It kind of looked like a lot of those stones had come to life on this road to Jerusalem and were praising God for all the “deeds of power” they had seen. The scene was glorious!
It was also scary; scary because a lot of people wanted the stones to just stay where they were. So one of the Pharisees said, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop” but Jesus will do no such thing.
This is a word for us. Will we listen to those stones? There is so much for Christians and the church to do. So many priorities, so many worries. It is very, very hard to listen to the people Jesus calls us to, and he doesn’t leave us guessing who might it be—the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.
Each one of us could listen to somebody this week. We could listen to somebody who is poor; somebody who is disabled and can’t get a job; somebody who is outside of our usual circle of friends. We may not know how to begin but we do have Jesus saying this Palm Sunday: “Once again, I tell you, people of God, if these are silent, the stones themselves will shout.” Oh, how I pray that we will all begin to listen.
Prayer: “Eternal God, give us listening ears when we don’t know how to hear. And help us to know we never do it alone but follow in the path of Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord. Amen.”
–Pastor Mark Nelson