Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 19:36-40 (New Living Translation)

36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

This is the conclusion to the (hi)story of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the height of popularity quickly followed by execution.

The people are shouting, singing, and praising God. The religious leaders are indignant. The people should not be hailing some wanderer from Nazareth as a King.

Jesus’ replied, “If they didn’t praise me, the rocks would.” In this case, the rocks—the lower part of God’s creation—don’t need to praise Jesus. The people are.

Try to turn this around in our minds. If we didn’t praise Jesus, if we were silent, the rocks would praise Jesus. Our numb silence would be the reason for the lower parts of God’s creation to praise Jesus. Let us never be the numb silence that is the reason for the rocks doing what we should do.