March 13, 2005
"Crying Stones"
Sermon by Rev. Dr. Sherry Parker
Trinity United Methodist Church
5th Sunday in Lent
Please note: Because I do not use notes when I preach, the text in the written sermon may vary slightly from the spoken sermon. My prayer is that in both my writing and my speaking the Holy Spirit works to make this message worthy of God’s purpose.
Scripture Text: Luke 19:29-40
Next week on Palm Sunday, we will remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It took three years for Jesus’ ministry to come to its illogical conclusion. After dealing with the skepticism and eventual hostility of religious leaders, Jesus was met with the joyous shouts of the people at the gates of Jerusalem. This entrance, however, was the beginning of the end. The crowds shouted "Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the One who comes in the name of the Lord!" It was a parade, a pageant with the branches of palms waving and the people flinging their coats down for Jesus to ride over. (Molin 2002)
Perhaps you’ve had the chance to be in the midst of a celebration something like this some time in your life, a spontaneous parade or a crowd filled with excitement. A friend of mine has told me of driving into the city of Detroit for the celebration when the Tigers won the world’s series in 1968. For a few hours, anyway, there was unity and celebration in the troubled city. Perhaps you were there when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. (You remember the Red Wings? You remember hockey?) I remember as a young woman experiencing the power of being a part of march in Washington, D.C. for women’s rights, thousands gathered at the Capitol Building steps.
And, of course, on the sidelines of these gatherings, there will always be those who are concerned about public order. It was the case, even as Jesus entered Jerusalem. A group of Pharisees approached him and said, as the NRSV translation reads, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." The language they used was very strong. "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" In other words, "Not only make them stop, but tell them what they are saying is wrong!" (Culpepper 1995, 369)
We know that the religious leaders were at that time looking for a way that they might bring Jesus down. In addition, it was not safe to have such commotion under the rule of the Romans. Soldiers might mistake the impromptu parade and the shouts as the beginnings of a dangerous mob or even a political uprising. In either case, the Pharisees wanted Jesus stop the commotion.
Jesus’ response was immediate, "If these people were silent, the stones would cry out." Now, the Pharisees had heard that phrase before. It is in the words of a minor prophet, Habakkuk. In Chapter 2, the prophet condemns those who gather power and wealth to themselves by evil ways and at the expense of others. Habakkuk says that judgment will come, even from their homes, "The very stones will cry out from the wall, and the plaster will respond from the woodwork." (Hab. 2:11) Jesus’ point was that the shouts of the crowd were a judgment against their plotting.
The news this week has brought us memories of another parade, another gathering. Forty years ago on March 7, 1965, a group of about 500 men and women set out from Brown Methodist Church in Selma, Alabama to march 50 miles to Montgomery, the state capital. They marched for the rights of African Americans to register to vote in Alabama. Gov. George Wallace called in the state police to stop the march. He said it was for the public’s safety. Two hundred police officers and volunteers met the 500 marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. With tear gas, whips and sticks the police drove the crowd back, beating protesters as the cameras of national news networks rolled. Seventeen people were hospitalized for injuries including fractured skulls and broken limbs. And in March 40 years ago there was an outcry from many in the people in the United States. "This has got to stop." (Information for "Bloody Sunday" comes from BBC News, the "On This Day" web link at bbc.co.uk)
The world tells the disciples of Jesus Christ to be quiet, to go home and let things be as they are. Sometimes the directive is subtly given. "Settle down, don’t be a fanatic about it. You’re not going to change the way things are." Sometimes disciples are told clearly and forcefully that their outspokenness for what is right and just is not welcome. On February 14th of this year Sister Dorothy Stang was assassinated by gunmen in a church along the Amazon River in Brazil. The offense of the 74-year-old nun was that she would not remain silent about illegal loggers and ranchers set on deforesting the rainforest and destroying the land of the people who live there. But rather than silencing the movement, her death has brought the plight of the people and forest to the world’s attention. (Buchanan 2005, 20) It seems that when the dignity and salvation of human beings are at stake, and people are silenced, even the stones will cry out.
The leaders of the Selma, Alabama march were battered and demoralized, and some hospitalized. They had been working for justice for the people for months. Would they ever see a change? On March 9, two days after "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama Martin Luther King, Jr. gathered several hundred people together and they again approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge to continue the march toward Montgomery, but the state police formed a line across the roadway and would not let them pass. And the people who had come to march knelt in the road and they prayed.
In the Book of Esther, Queen Esther had the opportunity and power to save the Jewish people from persecution and death, but she was hesitant because she feared for her own life. Her cousin Mordecai called her to account saying, "Do not think that you will escape more than any of the other Jews. For if you keep silence as such a times as this, relief and deliverance will rise from another quarter." (paraphrase Esther 4:13-14).
Leaders of the civil rights movement persisted in Alabama, and after a court hearing, marchers were given permission to make their journey free from the interference of the governor and the police. Beginning on March 21st, just two weeks after Bloody Sunday, the marchers gathered, they crossed the bridge in Selma and over the next five days made their may to the capital so that this nation and the world could be aware of the civil rights denied to citizens of the United States. In August 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Voters’ Rights Act. When the marches began in Alabama just 19% of the state’s eligible African-Americans were registered to vote. Today 74% are registered. (bbc.co.uk) All who choose to have a voice do because those who cared about injustice did not remain silent.
Jesus accepted the shouts of the people with humility, but change did not come. He was not crowned the king; he was not recognized as the Messiah, the one come to save. And Jesus prayed. In the week leading to his death, he taught in the synagogue, he taught in the homes of friends, he prayed and he cried out for the people, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Luke 13:34)
And you’ll remember what God did with the injustice perpetrated against God’s only Son. Jesus was arrested and he said, "I am he." Jesus was put through the mockery of a trial and according to John’s gospel when he was brought before the high priest he said, "I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. (John 18:20) Jesus continued to speak even from the cross. He told a crucified man who believed in Jesus, "Today you will be with me in paradise," (Luke 23:43) and he prayed, "Father, forgive them." (Luke 23:34)
Jesus died and then there was silence. His disciples scattered, there were no more shouts for a king come to save, and followers laid his body in a tomb carved into the rock. A stone, a silent stone was rolled across the opening. But we know what happened, the stone did not remain still and Jesus did not remain silent. He rose from the dead and said to his followers "Peace be with you." (John 20:19) He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you ; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and if the people are silenced, even the stones will cry out. Jesus proclaimed a reign where all people are treated with compassion and fairness, where our neighbors are not limited to those the look the same as we do, speak the same language, have the same income or even practice the same faith tradition. Our neighbors stretch out around the globe, encompassing all people. Jesus taught a way by which we can give glory to God through our worship, our love and our witness. And when it comes to standing up for what is right, living out the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation and proclaiming the works of Jesus Christ, we cannot remain silent.
Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus Christ cannot remain silent. And if there is anyone or anything that would silence us, we’ll be like the stones crying out. In the face of the injustices of racism, sexism and prejudice we do not remain silent. When a people are forgotten or dehumanized because of their ethnicity, age or economic status we do not remain silent. When we encounter those in need of comfort and companionship, we give it. When we can offer the hope of transformation through Jesus Christ we do not remain silent. When we witness our faith to others, when we can tell the story of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection for all people, we speak as Jesus asks us to.
Are we ready to make the conscious decision not to be silent, to complete this Lenten journey and enter the celebration of Easter proclaiming new life in Jesus Christ? We might as well join in the swelling chorus, because by the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, there will not be silence.
Resources
Buchanan, John. March 8, 2005. Slain in Brazil. Christian Century, Vol. 122, No. 5, p. 20.
Culpepper, Alan. 1995. Luke. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Molin, Steve. 2002. Journey of Stones: A Sermon Series for Lent and Easter. Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
