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.”
Luke 19:39-40 (NIV)
Stones
As the second largest country in the world, Canada features a wide variety of landscapes, weather conditions, and natural phenomena. As a result, the number of gemstones found in Canada is surprisingly large. Gems require specific conditions to form. Since the terrain is so varied, a broader range of formation conditions exist, leading to a wide array of precious and semi-precious stones in Canada. The most common is amethyst, Ontario’s provincial gemstone, prevalent in Superior Country in Northwestern Ontario and around the Bay of Fundy.
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Each year on Thanksgiving Weekend we attend the Brigden Fall Fair near where we live in Southwestern Ontario. I love watching people clap and shout at the floats, fire engines, police cars. In small towns like this, everybody knows everybody and when someone people recognize go by in the parade, the clapping and cheering gets really loud. That was the case in the first Palm Sunday parade. When Jesus went by, the people shouted loudly. This was the One who had healed them and given them hope. They weren’t about to hold back their praise and appreciation. The religious leaders were offended, of course. So they say this to Jesus 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.’” Jesus will be praised. He is, after all, the Creator of the world. He was in the midst of His people – and those who recognized Him gave Him the praise that He deserves. The religious leaders missed Him completely. In a sense Jesus was calling them denser than rocks. Let’s not be – let’s give Him the praise He is due.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley