The story of Palm Sunday is familiar
to most of us. So familiar in fact, that we know the story, like so many of
the stories of our faith, without reading it. Jesus rides into
Sometimes when we read such a familiar a story, we assume certain things to be in the story. Take for example, the Christmas Story. It has to have a manger, a donkey, a star, shepherds, wise men, and the baby Jesus. Leave one of these things out of the Christmas story, and people notice. Have you ever read a story to a small child who knows the story so well they can recite it? Just try to change a single word in the story and see what happens? "Un Uh,” they say, “That's not the way the story goes.” They know the stories too well to be fooled by any abridged versions. That’s how most of us feel about our beloved Bible stories.
When I was a child I looked forward to receiving my copy of Highlights magazine every month. It made me feel so grown up to have my own mail delivered. My favorite puzzles were the ones where you had to find the differences in two pictures. The distinctions were very subtle…maybe a man was wearing a cap in one picture and a hat in another, or perhaps the ladies had more flowers on her dress in one drawing than she did in the other. I got to be pretty good at spotting them. How about you?
Did anyone notice anything different
as Donette read the Gospel of Luke's account of Jesus
entry into
Luke does, however, give us a little piece of the story that nobody else does. Did you catch it? Luke gives us shouting stones. Have you ever heard a stone shout? What has happened in this story is that this coat-less crowd has gotten pretty rowdy, in fact rowdy enough to get the attention of the local authorities, the Pharisees, who think it might be getting out of hand. They don't want too many people to follow Jesus. So they order him to order them to be quiet. "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." This is when Jesus says, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."
I wish I could have been there to hear him say it. All I can do is guess at what tone of voice he used. Did he say it in anger? "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." Or did he sound philosophical? "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." Personally, I prefer to think he said it with a sense of humor…an acerbic kind of wit and that he reared back his head in laughter as he said ? "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."
But it really doesn’t matter because Jesus' words ring with eternal truth, the kind of absurd, unexpected truth that only shouting stones can convey. Can you hear them?
One cold lonely night in the desert,
Jacob thought he was alone. He slept on a pillow, a pillow of stone. He had a
dream. Angels came from heaven. God promised him a nation. The next morning he
took that rock pillow, poured oil over it and called it
A crowd of men with angry stones in their hands throws a frightened woman at Jesus' feet. "What about her, Jesus? We just caught her in the act of adultery. The law tells us to stone such women!” Jesus is silent. But the stones in their hands aren't. They shout, "Kill her! Kill her!" Jesus invites the one among them without sin to throw the first stone, reminding the men that it takes two to commit adultery. They sheepishly drop the stones and walk away. The once angry stones now lie on the ground. Can we still hear them? They are saying, "I do not condemn you. Go your way and do not sin again."
A large stone covers the entrance to a cave. Inside is a man dead for several days. There is weeping and mourning. A voice commands, "Take the stone away!" The stone is moved. The same voice cries out, "Lazarus, come out!" That stone still echoes through the ages.
There is yet another stone shouting through the ages. It also sealed a tomb, a tomb now and forever empty. This stone shouts the story of new life, resurrection, and hope. It shouts the good news proclaimed first by Mary Magdalene.
Listen! We can still hear the stone shouting, "I have seen the Lord!"
So - here we are… It's Palm Sunday but Luke give us no palms…no Hosannas - only shouting stones; the stones of our faith, the stones of our lives when we like Jacob are alone and lost; when we, like the Israelites in the desert are dying of thirst; like the woman caught in adultery, facing the scorn of others; like Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, looking death in the face; like Mary Magdalene, knowing the presence of the risen Lord.
When we are silenced by life, when we can't even find words to express our frustration, anger, or pain, when the pressures of life seem to have won, the stones shout. And, when life is filled with awe, when the presence of God is so real in our lives it leaves us speechless, the stones shout.
Palm Sunday
is a peculiar celebration. It is a victory
celebration, but the victory is just a potential victory. The
victory isn't going to happen today... it is postponed until a date off in an
unknown future only God knows. The crowds are "for" Jesus today, but
what will be their pleasure tomorrow? They are not so very much unlike us.
There is a sense in which all of us are standing in that crowd two thousand years ago. If we look deep within, we will find one or another of the attitudes that was present on that day. Some folk were simply bystanders. Others got caught up in the enthusiasm and joined the crowd, cheering and shouting. Some followed Jesus with all their hearts even though they didn't fully understand what he was all about. Still others were critical of Jesus and wanted the whole thing stopped. Somewhere in that throng we can find ourselves searching, hoping, longing for someone to make us truly free -- truly whole. But it promises to be a bumpy ride.
Jesus did come to bring peace,
but he also came to deal with sin... and self-righteousness... and
selfishness... and prejudice... and hatred. He came to deal with things that
begin to point to my life and your life. It can get a little uncomfortable --
maybe even a lot uncomfortable or downright objectionable.
It is Palm
Sunday for you and for me every time we
decide whether or not we will honor Christ as the one who rules in our lives.
They key issue is not whether the whole rest of the world accepts or rejects
him as Savior, but whether you and I accept or reject his offer of healing and
wholeness -- of salvation. Day by day, somehow we are in that throng as Jesus
passes by -- and we are shouting, "Hosanna! Glory in the highest!" -- or
we are joining the Pharisees disdainful, "Tell them to be quiet!"
May we pray?
Gracious and loving God. We thank you that each of us are given countless windows of opportunity to make a decision for Christ. Give us the grace to hear the good news afresh and open wide the window of our hearts to the reign of Christ who bring God's peace to our lives!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa