Welcome to Day 2221 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Making It All Better – When Stones Cry Out – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 04/02/2023

When Stones Cry Out – Palm Sunday

Last, we began our Ressurection messages with “Making It All Better – The Story of Lazarus” from John 11. This story set the final stage for Christ to enter Jerusalem to fulfill His purpose as, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29. As we approach the Easter season, we are reminded of the miraculous events that occurred in the life of Jesus leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection. One of the most remarkable events is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19:35-42, tells the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This event is commonly known as Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. In this passage, we see Jesus riding on a colt while the people of Jerusalem greet him with shouts of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” They spread their cloaks on the road, and wave palm branches as a sign of victory and honor for the coming king, much like we would wave the American flag during an Independence Day parade. However, as Jesus approaches the city, we see a weeping king, a weeping savior once again. He recognizes the tragedy and destruction that will come upon Jerusalem because of their unbelief and refusal to accept Him as the Messiah. This passage reminds us of the joy and celebration of Palm Sunday and the seriousness and sacrifice of the Holy Week. It also challenges us to reflect on our response to Jesus, as we welcome him into our lives and communities. Do we honor him as king or reject him and turn away? Today, we could talk about the Mount of Olives or the significance of Jesus entering Jerusalem from the east. We could talk about Jesus driving out the money changers and cleansing the temple the next day. But today, I want to focus on something we don’t often consider on Palm Sunday. I want us to focus on the rocks or stones that lined the road going into Jerusalem. That’s right, the stones. Now, you might wonder, what in the world do a bunch of stones have to do with Palm Sunday? Let’s read Luke 19:35-42. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.  As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴² and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. So, did you spot the stones in the passage? They show up right in the middle of the passage. “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’” But I like how the NLT puts it a little better, “He replied, ‘If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!’”  Cheers, just like the disciples were doing along the road. Now, that would be quite a sight, wouldn’t it? How would you like to see the rocks burst into cheers! I think it would be amazing. But as much as I would like to see the rocks cry out, according to our passage today, that would not be a good thing. Why? Because it would mean that we are not doing our job in giving God his rightful praise. There are three things I want us to learn from this passage today, and all three relate to this mysterious saying from Jesus about the rocks crying out.

• God is worthy of loud and joyful praise.
• Our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus.
• God must and will be praised through Jesus Christ.

1. God is worthy of loud and joyful praise

First of all, God is worthy of loud and joyful praise. Look at Luke 19:37 with me, “When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.” It’s Passover week. Jesus is on the donkey and headed into Jerusalem. The crowds have gathered, and the atmosphere is electric. Everyone’s emotions are tuned to a high-pitched fever of excitement. The crowds welcoming Jesus have not only heard about his miracles. They are eyewitnesses. They have seen things that no one in history has ever seen before. As in last week’s message, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, after he had been in the tomb for four days. And so, as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the crowd of disciples joyfully praises God in loud voices for all the miracles they have seen. (These were the seven sign miracles we discussed last week.) God is not only worthy of praise. God is worthy of loud and joyful praise.

1. God created all things for his glory

There are many reasons why God is worthy of such praise, but the primary reason we are given in Scripture is that God created all things for his glory. We read in Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God is the Creator. He is before all things. He created all things, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, without him. We have a world, universe, life, breath, and our very being because God chose to create. By God’s will, all things were created and have their being. In other words, you’ve got nothing without God. Therefore, God is worthy of all glory and honor and praise. God created all things for his glory.

1. Our greatest joy is found in praising him

Not only that, but our greatest joy is found in praising him. So we read in Psalm 100:1-3, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” The very first instruction in Psalm 100 is to shout for joy to the Lord. That sounds like loud and joyful praise to me! We worship not only the Lord/ but also the Lord with gladness. We come before him with joyful songs. Why? Because he is God, and he is the Creator. He made us, and we belong to him. We are his people. We are the sheep of his pasture. God created all things for his glory. Our greatest joy is found in praising him. Therefore, God is worthy of loud and joyful praise, just like the crowds offered to God as Jesus approached Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. That’s our first point this morning. God is worthy of loud and joyful praise.

1. Our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus

Secondly, our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus. Back to our passage in Luke 19 now, listen to what the crowds shouted about Jesus in verses 38-39, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” As the crowds offered their loud and joyful praise to God, notice how they focused on Jesus. Luke records two specific statements they made about Jesus. And when you take these statements and compare them with other Scriptures, we see that these statements focus on the person and work of Jesus – who Jesus is, and what he did for us.

1. Jesus is the king who comes in the name of the Lord

First, let’s look at, the person of Jesus – who Jesus is. Jesus is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. This first shout of praise comes from Psalm 118:24-26 where we read, “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Notice the theme of joy that heads up these verses in Psalm 118, a joy that rests once again in God as Creator. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Notice the cry for salvation embedded in the middle. “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.” The word translated, “Save us!” is the same as the Hebrew word “Hosanna!” that the people cried out on Palm Sunday. That’s what Hosanna means – “Lord, save us!” And then comes the part of the verse that the people applied directly to Jesus on that first Palm Sunday. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But notice how they have also changed this slightly to say, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38) Why the change? The people in Jerusalem acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior God promised he would send so long ago. They don’t know everything about the Messiah yet. They don’t understand that Jesus is not only the Messiah but the very Son of God. They don’t understand that Jesus came not only to be king over Israel, but King over all the earth, the new Global Eden, the Kingdom of God. They don’t understand that Jesus came to save his people from sin, not as a political savior. They don’t understand any of that yet. But they recognize that he is the Messiah, the Savior, the Promised One. And so, they joyfully echo the words of Psalm 118, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

1. Jesus’ death brings peace in heaven and earth.

God is worthy of loud and joyful praise, and our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. That is the person of Jesus, who he is. And Jesus’ death brings peace in heaven and earth. That’s the work of Jesus, what he did for us. In Luke 19:38, look at the second phrase: the people cry out, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  This second phrase echoes the song the angels sang at Christ’s birth. Look at these verses next to each other:

• The angels’ song at Christ’s birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
• The people’s declaration at his entry into Jerusalem: “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38)

At Jesus’ birth, the angels shouted, “Peace on earth!” On Palm Sunday, the people shouted, “Peace in heaven!” Both are wondrously true. Did the people even realize the significance of what they were saying? Probably not. But God, in his sovereignty, knew that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem would result in his dying on the cross for sin. Jesus’ sacrificial death would bring peace in heaven and earth, peace between God and man for all who would put their faith in Christ. We read this beautiful song of praise to Jesus in Revelation 5:12. In a loud voice, they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” This passage is the song of praise we will sing throughout eternity. “Worthy is the Lamb” – there’s the person of Christ; “who was slain” – there’s the work of Christ. Throughout eternity, we will sing praise to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the world’s sin. He was slain for your sins and mine, and with his blood, he purchased men and women for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation. “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Jesus is the Son of God. He is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus’ death brings peace in heaven and earth. Therefore, our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ. III. God must and will be praised through Jesus Christ So, those are the first two things we learned from our passage this morning.

• God is worthy of loud and joyful praise.
• Our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus. And finally,
• God must and will be praised through Jesus Christ.

In Luke 19:39-40,  “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’ NLT: He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” And so, we learn that not everyone along the road to Jerusalem was happy on Palm Sunday. The Pharisees hear the people proclaiming Jesus as Messiah, so they tell Jesus: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” And you know what? Any good teacher who was not the Messiah would have rebuked the disciples right then and there. But Jesus did not rebuke them, because he is the Messiah. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In fact, rather than rebuking the people, he affirmed their praise instead. He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (Luke 19:40) I love that phrase. It is wonderfully ambiguous, yet at the same time, such a clear affirmation that Jesus accepted the people’s praise of him as Messiah. So, what did Jesus mean that the stones would burst into cheer? There are several possible interpretations. 1) One interpretation is that Jesus says it is just as impossible for the disciples to keep quiet as for the stones to cheer. The Messiah is here. How can they not rejoice? 2) A second interpretation would be that Jesus is worthy of praise, and if we do not give it to him, God will find some other means, even if it means making the stones cheer out his praises instead. 3) A third interpretation sees the stones crying out not in praise but in judgment of those who do evil. We find parallels to this in the Old Testament, for example, in Habakkuk 2:11-12 where we read, “The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. ‘Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!’” In this interpretation, the stones would condemn the disciples who withhold their praises or the Pharisees who seek to silence them. I like the second of these interpretations best, that if the disciples remain silent, the stones will burst into cheers of Jesus instead. But whichever Jesus meant, it is clear that he affirms the peoples’ praises over the Pharisees’ objections. So, God is going to be praised one way or another. And if we keep quiet, the rocks will burst into cheers!

1. God will not give his glory to another

This saying of Jesus is remarkable for several reasons. First, the Bible tells us that God will not give his glory to another. We read in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another.” God’s glory belongs to him alone, and he does not share or give his glory to anyone else.  

1. Jesus shares God’s glory; therefore, he is God.

And yet, the Bible also teaches us that Jesus shares God’s glory. The night before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed a prayer to God in the presence of his disciples. Hear the opening words of this prayer in John 17:1-5. Jesus prayed, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Now, remember, God will not give his glory to another. And yet, here we see that Jesus shares God’s glory. The conclusion is unmistakable. If Jesus shares God’s glory, then Jesus is God. We see that, indeed, Jesus Christ will share God’s glory because:

1. Every knee will bow, and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord

The New Testament confirms this in many other places, but perhaps one of the clearest is in Philippians 2:9-11 where we read this about Jesus, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” CONCLUSION: So, what does all this mean about the stones cheering? Exactly what we’ve just been talking about throughout the whole passage.

• God is worthy of loud and joyful praise. He created all things for his glory, and our greatest joy is found in praising him.
• Our praise should focus on the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, the king who comes in the name of the Lord. That’s the person of Jesus. Jesus’ death brings peace in heaven and earth. That’s the work that Jesus came to do.
• God must and will be praised through Jesus Christ. God will not give his glory to another. Jesus shares God’s glory;...