The Stones Would Cry Out
28 Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he came near to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, 30 saying, “Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, which no man has ever sat upon. Untie it and bring it. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say to him: ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent went away and found things just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt and sat Jesus on them. 36 As he went, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now getting near, at 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 which they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
He rides in to shouting, is told to silence his disciples, and says the stones would take it up.
Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
The journey that began at Luke 9:51 ends here. The entry is told in the earlier accounts Mark 11:1–19 Matthew 21:1–11, with the colt, the cloaks on the road and the prophecy of a king coming humble on a donkey.
Two things are this telling's own.
The first is who shouts. The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen Luke 19:37. Not the city and not the pilgrims generally — the disciples, and the reason given is what they have watched him do. And the shout has a word the other accounts do not: "Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!" Luke 19:38, which is the angels' song at the birth turned inside out Luke 2:14. Then it was peace on earth; now the earth is refusing it and the peace is reported as being in heaven.
Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
The request is the second thing peculiar to this Gospel, and it is the last recorded exchange with them before the city. It is also the book's recurring instinct in its final form — the disciples silenced the children, the crowd silenced the blind man, and now the authorities want the disciples silenced.
The grounds are not stated and are not hard to guess. What was being shouted was a royal welcome, and Rome executed people for that.
He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
The refusal says the thing cannot be suppressed. If the people who know are quiet, the material of the world will do it — and the prophets had said as much, with a stone crying out of a wall against a house built by injustice Habakkuk 2:11.
There is a further edge to it in this place. Within four verses he says not one stone of the city will be left on another Luke 19:44, and within the week the men asking for silence will get it — the shouting will stop, and what speaks will be an earthquake and a torn curtain.
settled What this mark means