I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out

 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'"  So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.  But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" And they said, "The Lord has need of him."  Then they brought him to Jesus.  And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.  And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.  Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:

"'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."  But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

- Luke 19:28-40

Yesterday we read that after His encounter with Zacchaeus in Jericho,  Jesus spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.  Therefore He said:  "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.  So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'  But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'  And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'  And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'  And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'  Likewise he said to him, 'You also will be over five cities.'  Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  For I feared you, because you are an austere man.  You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'  And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.  You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'  And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'  (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')  For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'"

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'"  So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.  But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" And they said, "The Lord has need of him."  Then they brought him to Jesus.  And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.  Today's reading tells of the events of the day which we call Palm Sunday.  This is His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  The expectation of the Messiah was that he would be a king in the mold of David, someone who would conquer the enemies of Israel and make great its worldly kingdom.  But Jesus ushers in a different kind of a kingdom.  Here He fulfills prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 -- "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you;  He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."  A donkey is a humble animal, symbolic of humility and peace, in contrast to the military cavalry of horses and chariots that would normally accompany a king, showing his military might.  In the image from Zechariah, Jesus is characterizing the nature of His kingdom.  Mt. Olivet is to the east of Jerusalem, also the place from which the Messiah would enter. 

And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.  Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:  "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"   The people spread their clothes as a form of paying reverence to a king.  One traditional interpretation states that spiritually this images we lay down our flesh and even our lives for Christ.  The people's cry comes from Psalm 118:25-26, which was associated with Messianic expectation.  During the Feast of Tabernacles (the Feast of the Coming Kingdom), it was recited daily for six days, and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means "Save, we pray!"  The salvation and the kingdom of Christ will take on new meanings in contrast to the expectations of the people.

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."  But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."  Perhaps Jesus is thinking of the the prophecy of Habakkuk, who writes,  "For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers will answer it" (Habakkuk 2:11).

In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, Zechariah 9:16 reads, "And on that day, the Lord their God will deliver them, His people, as a flock, for sacred stones will roll across His land."  The New King James version reads, "They shall be like the jewels of a crown lifted like a banner over His land."  Whether they be "holy stones" as jewels in a crown, or those lifted above or rolling across the land, we get the image of people as sacred stones, as jewels in the crown of a kingdom.  We understand the image that the salvation and true presence of a Kingdom is within the people of faith who are the jewels in its crown, the sacred stones planted by God.  Jesus gives us allusion to all of this traditional imagery in His reply to the Pharisees.  In the next chapter of Luke, Jesus will say to the leadership, quoting again from Psalm 118, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone."  St. Peter will take this image further in his first epistle, when he writes to the the Church that they come to Christ "as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,  you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."  Peter then quotes from Isaiah:  "Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."  (1 Peter 2:4-6).   As living stones, those people of faith who come to Christ (the Chief Cornerstone), are those who form and shape the Kingdom, who build up the spiritual house of God.  Each is a holy stone, a jewel in the crown that flies like a banner lifted over the land.  It is a graciously infinite way of expressing the idea that the Kingdom of God is within you, even as a faceted stone can reflect the Light that shines upon it.  The real treasure are those living stones, like gems for a crown of the Kingdom, who live the faith of the gospel as if it were the greatest treasure they have.