37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:37-40 ESV)
In order to address the stone-cold hearts of some of the Pharisees, Jesus points to stones. The image, however, is far richer than we may have imagined. I. Howard Marshall notes that Jesus’ phrase in v. 40 has been read by Christians in four different ways (NIGTC, Luke, 716-717). Each reading opens up fresh ways of looking at our spiritual lives through the unexpected lens of rocks. Using Marshall’s list, I’ve added my own twist in this four-part series.
#4 Rock as Munitions
Some Christians have read Jesus’ words in v. 40 like this: “If you try to stop the disciples from praising and rejoicing, these stones will cry out against you and will stop you!” Rooted in the same imagery as the focus of part 3 of this series, this understanding makes use of the Bible’s insistence that when wrong is committed, even the stones notice and cry out in protest (e.g., Hab. 2:11).
More than 30 times “cry out” is used in the Psalms of a person calling out to God. Often, as in Rev. 6:10, “cry out” is used as a cry for God to do something about a wrong:
They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”(Rev. 6:10 ESV)
Jesus now pictures the stones crying out to God against the Pharisees, on behalf of the disciples. Because the Pharisees are trying to stop the disciples from praising and rejoicing, the stones rise to the defense of the disciples. The rocks become their advocate. The stones cry out to God, in a kind of imprecatory prayer, begging God to act from heaven to protect the disciples from this wrong.
Seen in this way, stones become a kind of munitions, a kind of weapon, a kind of fortress, a kind of shield designed by God to bring protection to his people. We do not throw the stones at our critics! (Ironically, the same word “stones” is used in Jn. 10:31 when people try to toss them at Jesus). Instead, the stones cry out to God on our behalf against the critics. They rise to our defense.
There are a lot of things working against us when it comes to this business of praise and rejoicing. Thank God for the rocks! Because they are doing all they can to shield us so that we can experience the life we’ve been made to live–a life of abundant and overflowing joy.
