Luke 19:28-40

Have you ever had a time when you just couldn't keep silent?

That was us at the ELCA Youth Gathering this summer. Our days were filled with cleaning in a women’s shelter, building hurricane relief kits, and learning New Orleans history from locals. Night after night we heard people talk about how God had worked in their lives – from the religion professor who told her story of loss and recovery, to the challenges of being first Palestinian woman to be ordained in the Lutheran church in the Holy Land, to a Deaf pastor who told her Deaf congregation and us: “You are not a mistake.” We were on a spiritual high as we sang and worshipped and prayed with 16,000 young people.

And then on the third night, it happened. We sat down front in the Smoothy King arena, and we got on the jumbotron! There we were! We went completely crazy! We could not contain our excitement: Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I imagine that’s what it might have been like in our Gospel lesson when Jesus entered Jerusalem so long ago. It was the culmination of his three years of ministry – three years of proclaiming the Kingdom of God was near. But Jesus didn’t just talk about it, he made it a reality: healing people, casting out demons, welcoming the outcast and the sinner.

Everywhere Jesus went, he attracted crowds. In Jerusalem, people lined the streets. They were going crazy! Couldn’t contain themselves! This was the city where King David reigned. It was the place where God was supposed to reestablish God’s kingdom. People gave him a royal welcome, covering the ground with garments and shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Just as Jesus attracted crowds everywhere he went, he also attracted enemies. Behind the scenes the scribes and chief priests were plotting to kill Jesus while the Romans watched for any sign of rebellion among the Jews. Among the crowds, the Pharisees complained about propriety: “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” Jesus did not give in, saying, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

All four gospel writers tell this story, which is pretty unusual; only a handful of stories are told by all four gospel writers. Only Luke mentions this detail about the stones crying out. It has captivated my attention all week. It seems to me Jesus’ response wasn’t about volume or crowd control. Instead Jesus’ words express the irrepressible nature of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom was coming, and no amount of resistance or threat of violence would stop it. Even if Rome could shut every mouth of dissent; even if the religious authorities could control every law; even if common people got lost in the rhetoric of truth and lies, God’s kingdom of healing and justice and welcome for everyone was breaking in. The stones would cry out!

This vision, however, would soon be tested, because just five days later Jesus would be betrayed and handed over to a rare alliance of political and religious authorities. He would be sentenced to death and executed like a criminal. Where would the people be then? Who would come to Jesus’ aid? Would the stones cry out for his innocence, for his release?

No. Instead, Jesus' body would be placed in a cold tomb. And yet, like the deepest truth of the universe, Jesus’ irrepressible life would break free! Jesus could not be contained by the forces of evil and death! And those who follow him could not be silenced. The disciples in the book of Acts, the sequel to Luke’s Gospel, are called out of the upper room after Jesus’ resurrection. They are called from the shadows of hiding into the light and touched by the Holy Spirit’s inextinguishable flame. This message of uncontainable life will spread through their proclaimation from Jerusalem to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. It’s unstoppable. The stones will cry out!

This week I brought communion to one of our homebound members. As soon as we finished taking the bread and wine he blurted out, “Did I ever tell you about my trip to Wyoming?” It’s usually a moment of introspection and prayer, so I was a bit surprised by his outburst, especially since the service wasn’t over. But I said, “no, tell me.” And he proceeded to tell me about a time when he was 15 years old, traveling with his brother on a road trip out west, where suddenly another car crossed the centerline of the highway and crashed into their car in a head-on collision. He was in the passenger seat and would have bled out right there were it not for three people who stopped to help: three nurses who began life-saving treatment immediately. “They were my angels,” he said.

And not only that. Being a thousand miles from home, with both he and his brother in the hospital for a week, it was up to the nurses and their friends to take care of them. They arranged for the brothers to call home to tell their parents they were ok. They towed the totaled car. They picked up items at the store that were needed. They visited them at the hospital. The doctor even drove them to the train station three hours away so they could get home to Ohio. The whole town came together to help these strangers, and they literally saved this young man’s life – this young man, who is now 83.

As I reflected on his story later, I realized that it’s like our Gospel story about the stones crying out. When God’s power enters the world and touches your life, you can’t remain silent. You blurt out how God saved you. You tell of God’s goodness in the darkest times and live in the awareness of so much more than you might see in the headlines or nightly news. You see that on the other side of the cross is resurrection life and that we are called to live in that hope and joy and share it with all people.

It is an important message here at the beginning of Holy Week where we begin our journey with Jesus through his final days to Maundy Thursday, Jesus’ meal with his disciples and his washing their feet; Good Friday, Jesus’ betrayal and passion; and Saturday, the awesome opening the grave to life in the Easter Vigil. I encourage you to join us as we walk with Jesus. Together we recall the ways in which we are confronted with lies, death, and cruelty. We take an honest look at our lives and our world. We do so in the context of the story of Jesus’ unwavering faithfulness in the face of the worst and God’s ultimate triumph over evil and death. We can trust that the silence of the grave is but a momentary pause and that Christ’s irrepressible life force and the cry of hope and resurrection will emerge from our lips. We will not be silent.