The stones will cry out

Now as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God, rejoicing with a loud voice for all the miracles which 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 in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!”

Luke 19:37-40

Introduction

The triumphal entry which we commemorate on Palm Sunday is the day Jesus Christ entered into Jerusalem, kicking off the final week of His earthly ministry before His death and resurrection. We call it Palm Sunday because of the account found in John 12 where the people brought out palm branches to greet Him in His entry, shouting “Hosanna!” or “Save us!” In this account from Luke, we find the people also praising Him, calling Him “the King who comes in the Name of the Lord,” and exclaiming His glory.

Why does this anger the Pharisees in the crowd? And what does it tell us about the nature of Jesus?

The Name of the Lord

In Hebrew language and culture, names are extremely important. Names in and of themselves can be a great blessing, like when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. But they can also be a great curse, like the infamous Ichabod, grandson of the high priest Eli, who was named as such after the Ark of the Covenant was stolen by the Philistines. His name means “the glory has departed.”

Other interesting aspects of Hebrew names are cases where a name takes on multiple meanings. Consider Exodus 2:10 when Pharaoh’s daughter names Moses “for I drew him from the water.” The name Moshe literally means “drawn out” in Hebrew. But it also has a meaning in ancient Egyptian, hidden in some other famous names. The famous Pharaoh Ramesses, for instance, is named as such because he was thought to be “son of Ra” (Ra being the Egyptian sun god). Pharaoh’s daughter named Moses because she drew him from the water, but also because he became her son.

The Name of God also carries special meaning with it. Consider the cases where we encounter a character called “The Angel of Yahweh” or “The Angel of the LORD” (depending on your translation). This is a figure who is no mere angel. In fact, He is able to do things only God can do. This Angel of Yahweh met with Abraham to discuss the fate of the wicked cities Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18. Then in Genesis 19:24 we read, “And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven,” demonstrating two Yahweh figures. It is commonly held that this Angel of Yahweh is God (most often He is considered God the Son). Later, in Exodus 23 we read again that God sends an angel ahead of the people to clear the way for them, and they are commanded to obey this angel, “since My Name is in Him” (Exodus 23:21). We also see in that verse that this angel is able to “pardon transgressions.” (side note: the earliest manuscripts of Jude 5 confirm this angel is Jesus, such as can be found in the ESV and LSB translations)

And that brings us to Jesus. When Joseph was visited by the angel of God, he was given very specific naming instructions: “and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) So what does the name Jesus mean? It is, of course, an attempt to write a Hebrew name in Greek. The name of Jesus is the same as the name of Joshua. And this name means “Yahweh saves.” So embedded in the name of Jesus is the very divine name God gave to Moses at the burning bush. Here is the double meaning, though: it is He, the child, who will save His people from their sins. In this very short exchange, the angel is telling Joseph that the baby in Mary’s womb is Yahweh, and He has come to rescue His people from sin because only He is able to pardon sin (Luke 5:21). He has come in the Name of the Lord, with the Name of the Lord.

The Son of God

While ancient Judaism was not monolithic in its beliefs (that is: there were various sects that disagreed on various points of doctrine), one prominent idea of the Messiah was that He would Himself be divine. This conclusion is drawn from places like Isaiah 9:6 where the Messiah’s name is called “mighty God”, Jeremiah 23:5-6 which calls the Name of the Messiah “Yahweh”, and Micah 5:2 which states the Messiah’s “goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” This interpretation is clearly in view here as the people shout out blessings to their coming King, which offends the Pharisees who have a different view of the Messiah. According to Pharisaism, the Messiah would be a human ruler who takes control over the throne of David in Jerusalem, expanding his influence to the whole world. They were looking for a mere man and not God.

And so they demanded Jesus rebuke the people in alignment with their doctrine. After all, how could He claim to come in the Name of Yahweh? His response is striking, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!” We know that creation itself declares the glory of God (Psalm 19), and have many anthropomorphisms in scripture demonstrating this (Isaiah 55:12; Psalm 114:6). If the people did not declare His glory, surely creation itself would respond in praise.

Do not forget this about your savior. He is the God who can pardon sin. The divine Name is in Him, and He is King over all creation. He is the Messiah who rules in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:25), and to acknowledge Him as savior is also to acknowledge Him as Lord. So praise His marvelous Name and live in obedience to Him as the great and glorious King of Kings.

May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.