The Stones Cry Out

Luke 19: 28-40
April 5, 1998
Palm/Passion Sunday, Year C

© John Ewing Roberts


TEXT

"And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, `Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' He answered, `I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'" (Luke 19: 39-40)


INTRODUCTION

Or, in a contemporary paraphrase...
Tell the rabble to be quiet we anticipate a riot
     This common crowd is much too loud
     Tell the mob who sing your song that they are fools and they are wrong
     They are a curse, they should disperse
(Caiaphas, Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice [London: Leeds Music Ltd.] 1970)

Did you read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in your high school English class? I did, and I still remember those arrogant patrician Romans in Act I, Scene 1, trying to disburse the plebeian crowd with "You blocks! You stones! You worse than senseless things!" (It's one thing when an aristocrat shouts that out; it's another thing when you ask someone to sign your high school year book and you end up with "You blocks! You stones! You worse than senseless things!"

This patrician dispersal of the crowds, this aristocratic disdain for confusion, crowds and noise carries over today. If you had a chance to go to Jerusalem for the Palm Sunday celebration today, I suspect most of us would say, "No, thank you," not just because of reasons of safety -I feel as safe in Jerusalem as I do in Baltimore - but because it's crowded.

The Palm Sunday procession in Jerusalem earlier today followed the same route that Jesus and his disciples took. We can be sure of this because "the path of least resistance" remains the best way to walk from point A to point B. The topography has not changed for the area between Bethany, Bethphage, the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem. Pilgrims still walk that path. Today as the crowd crests the Mount of Olives and looks across the Kidron Valley toward Jerusalem, they see the Dome of the Rock, the third oliest place in Islam. On the first Palm Sunday the view was of the Temple, a dazzling sight, a sight of such beauty that it could move people to tears, tears of joy for the holiness of the Temple and tears of sorrow for all that was unholy in that city.

People often have strong opinions about what constitutes the holy and the unholy. The Pharisees found the noise and confusion of the first Palm Sunday offensive. "And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, `Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' He answered, `I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'" (Luke 19: 39-40)


THE "CRY" OF "THE STONES WOULD CRY OUT"

It will help us to hear the sound of the stones if we know that the word Luke was inspired to use is a very special word, rich in meaning. Jesus spoke Aramaic; Luke wrote in Greek; our Bible is in English - we work with a translation of a translation. Here is the word Luke used for the speaking of the stones. It is krazo, which means "cry out, scream, shriek."

The dictionary amplifies the meaning of the rich, powerful, multi-layered word:

- it is used when we make a sound not in words which are capable of being understood but in the inarticulate cry of terror in a dream when we must cry out but cannot; a nightmarish noise so painful and disturbing that it wakens the dreamer;

- it is used for the cry of the insane, those possessed, those with seizures who cannot be distinct, but who must give sound of expression to all that is surging within them (Mark 5: 5; 9: 26; Luke 9: 39); a cry of despair and hopelessness;

- it is used for the cry of a woman in child birth (Revelation 12: 2);

- it is used for the urgent speech of a prophet (Romans 9: 27), "Thus saith the Lord!";
of prayer which is more fervent than loud (Romans 8: 15); an inarticulate groan which the Holy Spirit honors and prays along with us;

- it us used finally and most powerfully of all for the cry of Jesus from the cross, when Jesus "cried out and gave up the ghost." (Mark 15: 37, KJV)

(William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [Chicago: The University of Chicago Press] 1957, pp. 448-449)

The cry of a nightmare, the cry of despair, the cry of prayer, the cry of child birth, the cry of a prophet, the cry of our Lord when he died - this is the sound when the stones cry out.


SOME STONES WHICH CRY OUT

When persons speak of the natural resources of the land of Israel, they do not mention oil - Israel is not like other Middle Eastern lands. But it has one remarkable natural resource - stones, rocks everywhere. They cry out in many ways.

(1) The stones cry out around the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, the headquarters for much of Jesus' ministry. The "Cove of the Parables" about a mile from Capernaum fits our mental picture of the time when the crowd gathered around Jesus and he got into a boat and sat in it on the water to teach them in parables. (Mark 4: 1ff.)

An acoustical engineer tested this natural amphitheater around the shore and discovered perfect acoustics for a range of over 100 meters. (Charles R. Page II, Jesus and the Land [Nashville: Abingdon Press] 1995, p. 85) These stones cry out that Jesus taught here.

(2) The stones cry out violence at Masada where one still sees piles of spherical stones resembling cannon balls. The zealots defending the fortress of Masada used these stones like cannon balls to hurl by a powerful catapult against the Romans besieging them. Stones cry out in violence.

(3) Inside the Dome of the Rock there is the massive stone on which it is said that Abraham intended to sacrifice Isaac. Pictures of this rock are rare because photography is not allowed in this holy place except by special permission. Christians appropriate the near sacrifice of Isaac in the belief that it foreshadowed actual sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God. This stone cries out the shared but conflicted heritage of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

(4) The massive Herodian ashlars cry out the pretensions to prestige and excellence behind the building projects of Herod the Great. Carefully dressed with the handsome margins around the sides, these huge stones were part of the retaining wall for the second Temple and cry out of a brilliant, driven, insecure builder who wanted the trappings of Roman power and Greek elegance.

(5) At the foot of the Mount of Olives beside an ancient grove of olive trees and the path followed on Palm Sunday, then and now, within the lovely Church of All Nations is the Rock of the Agony which cries out the pain of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
No one knows if Jesus actually prayed on this rock, but it is in the Garden and presents itself as a likely place for a season of agonized prayer.

(6) The paved stones found beneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion in Jerusalem were once thought to be the pavement called Gabbatha in Hebrew and mentioned in John 19: 13 and was formerly identified as the place where Pilate said, "Behold the man." (John 19: 5) Roman soldiers had carved in the stone a game board for what is called "the King's Game," used to pass time while waiting to perform executions. We now know that these Roman remains come from the century after the trial of Jesus, but they cry ut a message of pious hopes invested erroneously.

(7) But there is in Jerusalem a place the stones cry out an authentic word about Jesus. If we study a model of the south side of the Temple Mount, we see the monumental staircase and adjacent plaza, which afforded respectively the main access to the Temple and the chief area of public assembly in Jerusalem.
These stone steps are the place where a teacher would gather a crowd to teach; these steps are a place where we can be sure Jesus stood and taught. They have been uncoered within the last twenty years. The stones cry out, "You are on holy ground!"

(8) The stones of the narrow streets of the old walled city of Jerusalem go back to Crusader, Islamic and Ottoman times. They speak of waves of conquest, reminders of the transitory power held by those who control Jerusalem.

A few years ago when a sewer system was being installed forty feet below the surface of a street in the Old City, workers found street paving stones from the time of Jesus. They appear now in the paving of the contemporary street. Did Jesus actually walk on these very stones? No one knows, for sure, but he could have.

RISKS IN COMMUNICATION

Stones do speak; they tell a story. The Palm Sunday story of the stones crying out is a story of both articulate words ("Hosanna!") and deeds, the use of palms and a donkey, to communicate a message by verbal and non-verbal communication.

The gospel embodied in Jesus, "the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth" (John 1: 14). This assertion means that the gospel story is told both by explicit, articulate words and by deed, symbols, and gestures. Those of us who follow Jesus will tell his story by words and by deed, mindful that both media run the risk of misunderstanding.

Non-verbal communication can be very confusing. The first Palm Sunday was very confusing. What did it mean that Jesus was riding on a donkey? Some knew about Zechariah 9: 9, but this text was not on the tip of everyone's tongue. Some knew about palm branches and garments, but how many connected the festal branches of Psalm 118: 27 with this moment, and how many actually remembered that garments were spread to welcome Jehu as king in 2 Kings 9: 13?
Maybe some people remembered that the Messiah would come from the Mount of Olives and began to put together all these potentially confusing non-verbal clues on the first Palm Sunday.

Did you ever wonder who said the first "Hosanna!"? Today Maryan Brown gave a cue to the boys and girls; the bulletin cued the congregation; Terry Yount cued the choir, but who got it all started the first time? Who starts the rhythmic applause at Camden Yards when the Orioles need to rally? Did the first "Hosanna!" come by the same sort of pre-arrangement that Jesus made to secure the donkey and the upper room? Or did someone see Jesus on the donkey and pull together all the non-verbal clues, get the pont and cry out "Hosanna!"?

I don't know, but I do know that they said "Hosanna! Save now!" and that cry led to more confusion. "Save now" from what? From sin and death, or from Roman tyranny? "Save now" from religious hungers or abject poverty?


What was Jesus trying to communicate? Was he an effective communicator with these confusing gestures? It is all right for you to be a bit confused at the beginning of our service today. Woodbrook people are orderly, rational, logical, "buttoned-down" people, and you do not like confusion. I could see it on your faces; some of you still may be wondering why on earth we began the service that way. It was done by design - to give us all a sense of the confusion of that fist Palm Sunday when some of what happened was meaningful and some of it was just a swirl of sound.

CONCLUSION

All of Holy Week would be like that - the followers of Jesus getting the point some time, and on other occasions tragically misunderstanding their Master. We get to follow Jesus during Holy Week and to try and understand all that happens to him and to us.

We follow him as we read our Bibles and pray, as we eat a simple Mediterranean meal, the kind Jesus and his followers often would have eaten, and then have a very special observance of the Lord's Supper.

We get to follow Jesus and hear his signals on Friday. Some of you - work schedule permitting - will be able to come to this room between noon and 3:00 p.m. for a time of prayer and meditation. I hope many will come Good Friday night for the Tenebrae service of shadows when we explore how Jesus entered into the darkness of that darkest of days.

More verbal and non-verbal cues on the meaning of Holy Week come to us in the Great Easter Vigil on Saturday night, a service of communion, a service when we renew our baptismal vows and revisit the whole history of salvation.

Then comes Easter morning, next Sunday, back in this room, full of joyful people. My prayer is that we will experience the meaning of this week as fully as possible. It is a shame to come to church only on Easter, but it is better, I suppose, than not coming at all. It is a shame to come on Palm Sunday to sing All Glory, Laud and Honor and not come back until Easter Sunday to sing Christ, the Lord Is Risen Today. It's going from mountain peak to mountain peak nd not going with Jesus into the valley, into the garden, and on to the foot of the cross.
Verbal and non-verbal cues, Holy Week, the passion of our Lord - they are all there for us.

The great gifts of these days are there for us. I pray that we will receive them in their richness and in the fullness of their meaning.

John Ewing Roberts
Woodbrook Baptist Church
(Formerly Eutaw Place Baptist Church)
Baltimore, Maryland
[This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission]