The Stones Will Cry Out 喊叫的石頭

Passion Sunday, Year C
Theme: The Stones Will Cry Out 喊叫的石頭

We begin the Holy Week with the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The timing was perfect. Jews all over the world would choose one of the three festivals to go pilgrimage to the holy Temple in Jerusalem so much so that, the pilgrim population could be bigger than the resident population in Jerusalem. The three festivals are: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Jesus chose to die at Passover to show that He is the true Paschal Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) whose blood redeems the whole Creation (Mark 16:15, Romans 8:22). The timing was perfect because many overseas Jews came to Jerusalem on pilgrimage and witnessed His Passion. The seed of gospel was planted in their hearts. Then the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost and the Church, which is the Mystic Body of Christ, was born to accomplish the unfinished mission of reconciling the whole Creation with God. In one day, Church membership exploded from 120 to more than 3000 (Acts 1:15, 2:41)! Many of these new members were Greek-speaking Jews from overseas. Two factions were forming inside the early Church and a schism was brewing. That’s another story.

When the first Christians left Jerusalem as a consequence of persecution from the Sanhedrin, they went all over the Mediterranean region to awaken the seeds of gospel mentioned above among the overseas Jews. In the soil of Gentile culture, the first Christians started to embrace all peoples and the Church became genuinely catholic rather than a branch of Judaism. We should bear in mind that the early Christians were not running away from martyrdom with which they were able to demonstrate their unreserved love of Christ. Rather, their love of neighbour motivated them to share the reconciliation good news with all peoples (2 Corinthians 5:19). God wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Christians are His ambassadors of reconciliation. If they don’t die a martyrdom in Jerusalem, they will do so elsewhere.

In Year C, we read the Lucan narrative of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. There’s a verse peculiar to Luke which catches my attention. Jesus came with a multitude of disciples. Together with pilgrims visiting the Temple, the crowd was big. The disciples began to praise God aloud with joy and recounted the miracles they had seen. The crowd was incited. They continued to chant slogans which were alien to the Romans but the Pharisees understood. The Pharisees were worried because the slogans were politically provocative: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:37-38a). Unlike other Evangelists, Luke did not put down “Hosanna” which in Hebrews means “Save us, Yahweh!”. Instead, he attenuated it down into something like, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (19:38b). The Pharisees went to Jesus and told Him to rebuke His disciples. In reply, Jesus said, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” (19:40) What did Jesus mean by “the stones will cry out”? I search the Scriptures to locate other verses. I also pray over this verse and ask the Lord.

A similar verse is located in only one place among the minor prophets. It reads, “For the stone in the wall shall cry out, and the beam in the frame shall answer it!” (Habakkuk 2:11) Habakkuk was pronouncing the 2nd woe of five against the wicked and the greedy. The whole woe reads, “Woe to him who pursue evil gain for his household, setting his nest on high to escape the reach of misfortune! You have devised shame for your household, cutting off many peoples, forfeiting your own life; For the stone …” (2:9-11) Probably the prophet did not have the Pharisees in mind when he pronounced the woe. But Jesus saw the description apply to the Pharisees who abused their legal expertise to fatten themselves at the expense of widows and they stood on high moral ground in hypocrisy by accusing others of not observing the law etc. They thought they were secure but the prophet warned them that the stone on the wall would cry out against them! Perhaps one of the concerns of the Pharisees was the safety of the people. They did not want to see the Romans come to quash an incited crowd. But it couldn’t be denied that these self-righteous legal experts wanted to maintain the status quo in which they might continue to fatten themselves. Perhaps Jesus had mercy on them and mildly reminded them of their hypocrisy and a false sense of security by alluring to Habakkuk.

If Habakkuk was a bit remote so that the Pharisees might have forgotten, they should be familiar with a more recent prophet, John the Baptist who shouted at them saying, “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8) Even stones could be better children of Abraham than the Pharisees who had been national heroes defending the Jewish culture during the Babylonian Captivity! Now, only a handful of them remained “awaiting the kingdom of God” (23:51). If we base our interpretation of “the stones” in this way, Jesus was defending His disciples. They were genuine children to Abraham while the status of the Pharisees who tried stopping them for whatever motives was questionable!

Of course, stones could be lethal weapons (1 Samuel 17:48-50) and capital punishment (Joshua 7:25) In the examples mentioned, these stones symbolized God’s righteousness. Yet in the hand of God, these lifeless objects can be children of Abraham, echoing the same sentiment of Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14). God is merciful. He is able to breathe life into the dried bones of the Pharisees and all those whose hearts have been hardened by wealth, power and the cares of life! What distinguishes Jesus’ disciples from the Pharisees? Jesus says in authority, “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

What’s the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? The Pharisees were self-righteous and observed the letters of the law. Not only were they rigid in the application of the law, but they also had forgotten the spirit, the original intention of the law --- to help and guide people to do God’s will and be saved. What’s the spirit of the law? Charity, altruistic love of the needy and the marginalized. If we enforce the law in the spirit of love to edify and raise people up, we would not go around to collect evidence to incriminate Jesus as the Pharisees did. In other words, righteousness and mercy go hand in hand. Lacking either one of them is detrimental to our well-being, not only as the children of God but also as ordinary citizens.

Brethren! We are more valuable than sparrows (Matthew 10:31, Luke 12:7) and stones. Jesus exhorts us to seek the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven and not our righteousness. Only then can we be truly righteous stones which God raises as children to Abraham.
God bless!
2016 Reflection
Picture Credit: li-mac.org