If We Are Silent

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem for Passover. The establishment already has their eye on him. Pharisees travel with the crowd that follows him, to watch and report. They are coming from Jericho – 20 miles, of climb. Jericho is the lowest point on earth, 800 feet below sea level. So they are climbing from 800 feet below sea level as they travel southwest to Jerusalem, that sits 2500 feet above sea level. And as you climb, you come to Bethphage and Bethany, and Jerusalem comes into view. And just past Bethphage and Bethany, as you come to the Mount of Olives, the dry, dusty desert gives way to lush green growth.

NT Wright says of the journey, “Even when you drive, rather than walk, from Jericho to the top of the Mount of Olives, the sense of relief and excitement when you reach the summit is intense….At last you stop climbing, you crest the summit, and there before you, glistening in the sun is the holy city, Jerusalem itself, on its own slightly smaller hill across a narrow but deep valley.”

Jesus sent the disciples ahead to get a colt, a donkey that had never been ridden before. He had probably made arrangements earlier, maybe the last time he was in Bethany. It was like home to him, he stayed there often with Mary and Martha, the sisters of his dear friend Lazarus. And on the back of the colt, as the crowd lined the path with their cloaks, Jesus summited, he came to the height of the Mount of Olives and looked down across the valley at Jerusalem, and the excitement was palpable.

Zechariah had prophesied, and the disciples knew the prophecy.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The crowd around Jesus, the disciples and the followers, they knew the prophecy and they started rejoicing. Praising God as they sang the song we have recorded as the 118th Psalm. It was the traditional hymn that Passover pilgrims sang as they approached Jerusalem. Every year, it was the song of greeting that pilgrims sang on the way into Jerusalem. But as they came to the last verse of the song, someone in the crowd changed the words. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” became “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” And someone in the crowd took the next words and acted on them, “Bind the festal procession with branches” and they started breaking off palm fronds to wave as they sang. And they repeated the last verse, “Hosanna! Save us! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”

They are singing and dancing and waving the palms. And they aren’t alone on the road. Many are headed into Jerusalem for the Passover. Many are singing the same hymn. But this group is drawing attention, because they aren’t singing it in the same way. They are worshipping. They are praising. They are – well, they are too loud. And the Pharisees in the crowd warn Jesus, “Rabbi, order your disciples to stop.” It’s too much. It’s out of control.

And Jesus replies, it’s not stoppable. “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

William Barclay says of the scene, “It was an act of glorious defiance, and of superlative courage. By this time there was a price on Jesus’ head. It would have been natural that, if he was going into Jerusalem at all, he should have slipped in unseen and hidden himself in some secret place in the back streets. But he entered in such a way as to focus the whole lime-light upon himself, and to occupy the center of the stage. It is a breath-taking thing to think of a man with a price upon his head, an outlaw, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye was fixed upon him.”

The hopes and fears of all the years are met, this is the moment. Rev. Crumlish of the Church of Scotland beautifully wrote “Those Hosannas were not simply innocent cries of palm branch waving children. Those Hosannas were the war cries of adults tired of the oppression of occupying forces. Those hosannas were the hopeful cries of a nation seeking liberation. Those Hosannas were an investment of hope in one they thought would deliver. Those Hosannas that we have sanitized over the years rang out in clear insurrection sealing the fate of one who rode on a donkey. So, let us wrest them from the lips of children and allow them to ring in our ears and spew from our mouths as a call to action, a call to justice, a call to love.”

What would have happened if the crowd had been silent? The rocks would have cried out. The whole creation groans at the birthing of this new kingdom.

And yet, all too often, we are silent. “After all, I am only one person,” we think. David Platt in his book A Radical Idea: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, writes, “as long as individual
Christians journey alone – no matter how “radical” they are – their effect will be minimal. But as men and women who are surrendered to the person of Christ join together in churches that are committed to the purpose of Christ, then nothing can stop the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

Even the rocks were ready to cry out in worship, to declare that the time had come when God would save his people, blessed is the KING who comes in the name of the Lord.
What would their story be?

One day a little boy named David picked me up and put me in his slingshot. I’m just a little rock, but God used me to slay the Philistine giant. One little boy with God’s help could slay a giant.

One day a prophet named Elijah stacked me up to build an altar. I’m just a little rock, and was I ever wet, but then God lit the fire. Even the wet couldn’t stop the power of the One True God.

I am a witness to this Jesus. One day a man held me in his hand, ready to stone a woman. Jesus listened to them, and the whole time they talked he was writing in the sand. Then he straightened up and said, “”Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” I was released and fell to the ground. Even the power of fear and the love of power couldn’t stop the forgiveness and love of the Son of God.

I heard the words of their song. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Even me, without a voice, even me, I cry out in praise to God! “Hosanna! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!”

What is your story? When have you seen God help slay a giant? Or show his power? Or overcome fear and the love of power with forgiveness and love? Do you know your story? Because you have one to tell. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and you and I are being hewn to form the walls of the Temple.

Let us cry out in praise to God! “Hosanna! Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!”