Deacon
Tom Writes
“How
To Avoid Making The Stones Cry Out”
The tide of public opinion can change quickly. But
the tide of public opinion is often nothing more than the collective mindset of
the crowd that happens to gather at the moment. Today the crowd gathers to
welcome Jesus and to sing his praises. Why not? He has a good reputation in the
minds people. Word of his good works has spread throughout the land. He is a
healer, worker of miracles, and advocate for the poor and disheartened. To some
he is a prophet; to others he is the Messiah; to the religious authorities, he
is a big problem!
Word spreads of his arrival in the city to celebrate
Passover with his friends; many turn out to welcome him. The people are in a
festive mood and they greet Jesus waving their palm branches and raising a
chorus of “Hosanna”, for somehow they recognize the presence of God in their
midst. As the spirit of hope fills the air, the Pharisees, the ones for whom
Jesus is a problem, tell him to, “Rebuke
your disciples”. Jesus responds, “If
they were to keep quiet, I tell you, the very stones would cry out”.
What a difference a few days can make. As Jesus stands
before Pilate, the Pharisees don’t appeal to Jesus to control his disciples;
instead they’re fueling the crowd’s ignorance, stirring them up to advance their agenda – to get rid of the thorn
in their side, Jesus. The finger pointing, the false accusations, the skillful
manipulation of the emotions of the crowd work in their favor and Jesus is
condemned to death. The only spirit at work in the crowd on that day is the
hardness of heart that, to this day, continues to blind many to God’s presences
in their lives.
Our scripture readings today help us to see Jesus as
both the hope for and the scourge of our world. For believers Jesus
is the, “Way, the truth, and the life”. For
others Jesus is a hindrance to living a life unchecked, unrestrained by any
moral or ethical code. With Jesus out of the way, there are no restrictions to
living a self-absorbed, it’s all about me, taking care of number one lifestyle.
Any good that one may do in this state is done solely because it gives one
individual pleasure, a sense of feeling good. There is no sense of any common
good, let alone any awareness of belonging to the “Mystical Body of Christ”.
I suspect that many of the people in the crowd on
Good Friday were also there to greet Jesus on Palm Sunday. Today we have a chance
to imagine what we would have done if we were present at these two remarkably
different events. Better yet, we can look into our lives and see what crowds we
side with today. Being champions of the poor, the alienated, the marginalized,
and the abused will surely help us in our effort to avoid making stones cry out!!!
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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