Kolar: Even the Stones Will Sing

Luke 19: 39-40 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.”

There are geological formations all over the world that are breathtaking and interesting. Some of those can be seen in our beautiful North Dakota badlands. Another is Ringing Rocks Park in Pennsylvania. The rocks at Ringing Rocks Park are known as lithophonic or sonorous rocks, meaning they produce a ringing sound when struck. I’ve seen them on television, but I suspect being there is a completely different experience.

Jesus once spoke about rocks that would have been quite breathtaking and interesting too. When the religious leaders were telling him to shush the crowd that was following him, he said if they stopped shouting, the rocks themselves would shout out. What they didn’t understand was that all of creation was his and that their efforts to silence people might prevail, but they would never silence the creation of God.

Indeed, not long after the parade of palms and shouts of “Hosanna!” Jesus showed them just how much their efforts to “silence” the one who was embarrassing them, annoying them, and saying things they didn’t agree with, were fruitless. When Jesus rose from the grave, a stone did, in fact, shout out, loudly and clearly. It said, “This tomb is empty.” But that’s a rock song for next week….stay tuned!