Written by Richelle Thompson
Luke 19:39-40 (NRSV) Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Stones play a starring role in some of the biggest stories of the Bible: Moses writes the ten commandments on two slabs of stone; the twelve tribes of Israel build a stone altar of sacrifice on the River Jordan. The stone the builders reject becomes the chief cornerstone, and Peter is the rock upon which Jesus builds the church. Christ saves an adulterous woman from being stoned, and in the greatest story of all time, the stone sealing Jesus’ tomb is rolled away to reveal the empty grave, announcing Easter to a waiting world.
In this passage of Luke, the growing dissension between Jesus and the Pharisees is evident. Even here, though, Jesus’ unearthly power extends to the stones, that what is hard can be made flesh, what is mute can cry out, and what is inanimate can become life. If Jesus can do that with stones, what can he do with us?
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
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