The Stones will Shout!
by Elder Rev. Peter Laarman for faithandreason.org
Near the end of his life, when Jesus enters Jerusalem for a final confrontation with the powers of domination and death, there’s an awkward moment when the crowd greets him as a triumphal king even though he is mounted on a ratty little donkey rather than a noble white charger. In Luke’s account, the over-excited disciples lead the chanting: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” When the outraged Pharisees ask Jesus to silence the chanting, what does he say? “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” (Lk. 19:40)
Is Jesus indulging in a bit of grandiosity here? It’s hard to tell (it’s likewise hard to know how much the words of Jesus in the passage may have been tweaked by later Christian apologists).
But this is certainly the kind of thing Jesus would say, and the larger context is clear: the craving for a possible reign of justice and peace is so strong that the whole of creation–even the paving stones on the street–can feel it. And, of course, the very first thing Jesus does when he gets to the heart of the city is to face off with the predatory banking establishment, which has its headquarters in the temple court. This is hardly the action of a would-be caesar; much more the action of a prophet and the enemy of all caesars. Indeed, it’s this action that seals the fate of the Galilean; the authorities decide it’s time for him to go.
I’ve had this passage in mind as I hear the news from Los Angeles, where a vengeful and power-mad administration now deploys 5,000 federal troops to show crowds of mostly peaceful protesters (many of whom are poor and vulnerable) “who’s boss.” This show of force is an orchestrated made-for-TV spectacle, intended in part to distract attention from the feed-the-rich and starve-the-poor horrors of the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” in DC. As Michelle Goldberg writes, this is what autocracy looks like. Our would-be caesar is saying very clearly, “Get in our way and we will shut you up and lock you up and deport you if we have to. The more you protest, the more you will suffer.”
This is a time of jackboots and iron fists, of drones whirring overhead and unheard-of levels of surveillance and control, all the way from Gaza to Kharkiv to Los Angeles. The Reign of God, the great shalom, seems more distant than ever. But this is also a time to stand strong in our witness to truth and to remember that the reign of terror and violence is so offensive and so fundamentally false that creation itself rebels. Yes, if we should fall silent, the stones themselves will speak. I believe they are speaking now.