Shouting & Silence

All four gospels have the story of Jesus entry into Jerusalem. And while we are focusing on the Gospel of Luke this year I felt it was important to look at all the gospels and see what Luke might be saying that the others don’t. Now we’re not going to get into all the detailed differences that happen between the gospels, there are two that I found that actually I believe helps us to understand both Palm Sunday better as well as today’s theme of shouting and silence.

As Jesus is approaching the Mount of Olives, Luke tells us that the whole throng of his disciples (which I would take to mean as the crowds of followers not just the 12) began rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen. In other words the disciples and crowds are rejoicing and shouting that a prophet like Jesus is entering Jerusalem not because they know or want him to die on Friday, but because this incredible person has finally come to Jerusalem, the heart of where their worship and faith resides.

The gospel writers Matthew and Mark do not have this detail. They simply state that they were shouting and rejoicing over Jesus. While I think we can insert this idea of what Jesus means to them and what they think Jesus means to this world, I find it important for Luke to explicitly point that detail out to us. John actually pulls this detail out too and puts the emphasis on a story that had just happened, which was the resurrection of his friend Lazarus. The crowds are coming to the Passover festival, and see Jesus and are overly excited becuase they had just experienced Jesus in the raising of Lazarus from the dead. I think this idea of focusing on the shouting for everything that Jesus had done and was doing is also especially important for modern Christians because we focus so much on the fact that this triumphal entry leads to his death and resurrection. There is shouting on Palm Sunday because a true prophet, one they had not experienced for a very long time has come to the holy city.

I feel when we understand that the crowds were drawn because of what they had seen, heard, and experienced of Jesus is the reason for this joyous entry, helps us to see it through their eyes and not through our eyes. Which I know seems weird to say because so often we want to see these events with our eyes so that we can really put ourselves there, but I believe in this type of event, it is more helpful for us to put ourselves in the minds of the crowds and followers of Jesus at that very moment. We know can see why there was so much shouting of praises that day.

So then we need to think about the kinds of things that drive us to shout with joy in our own lives. Perhaps some of you watched the recent March Madness Tournament and you cheered on your favorite college basketball team for as far as they went. Maybe you are cheering on the Diamondbacks as the baseball season begins. Perhaps there has been a recent birthday of someone special in your life. Maybe there is a new birth that fills our hearts with love and joy and excitement. I know with our girls when they accomplish things we love to celebrate with them and probably make things a bigger deal than they want them to be, but we can’t help it because we are so excited for them. I know that when we were able to raise most of the money for the new accessibility driveway there was a lot of joy and excitement and shouts. There are just times in our lives when we can’t help but be joyful for what is happening.

Then again, if your March Madness team didn’t make it, then you probably did some other form of shouting. And when the Diamondbacks make a bad play we might shout at the player or the umpire for making a bad call. If you lose a job you might shout for a different reason. If you see injustice in the world you might shout in protest at what is happening. Shouting can be both shouts of praise and shouts of anger or disappointment.

The other unique part of Luke’s gospel is the part about silence. The Pharisees want some silence to happen because of why and what the crowds are shouting. Jesus responds to them that even if the followers were silent then the stones would shout. The Pharisees don’t want them to shout praises because they feel its not appropriate to give Jesus that praise, but there may also be another reason. We see this as general praise and we see them praising Jesus by quoting Psalm 118. This psalm was recited as a part of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for certain festivals, so on the one hand there is nothing wrong with this psalm. On the other hand, I did read in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary, that Psalm 118 was also recited at the enthronement ceremony of the kings of Israel. Couple that with the fact that he is riding a mule which David had Solomon ride his mule when Solomon became king, and that Zechariah 9:9 talks about Israel’s king will one day ride both humble, righteous and victorious on a donkey, would have probably driven the Pharisees to shout for silence. There are three scriptural allusions to Jesus being a king being presented here and the Pharisees would have seen all of this and wanted both nothing to do with it and would want it all to stop and for silence to replace it.

So here is the silence. The Pharisees want silence to keep the status quo. What is ironic about this desire for silence is that Zechariah 9:9 calls for rejoicing and singing for the coming of the king. Psalm 118 calls for Israel to declare God’s love which lasts forever. As I said this Psalm was recited at festivals and so the Pharisees, the priests and all the pilgrims would be shouting and declaring the words of this Psalm as they approached and entered the temple and would be joined by those in the temple, and yet in this moment it is those very people and the temple itself that are silent at the approach of Jesus. In the midst of the shouting of praise by those following Jesus, Jerusalem itself is oddly silent.

For us there are times when we are silent. There is good silence and there is bad silence. Sometimes being silent when sitting with someone we care about is better than trying to fill the room with words. Sometimes silence can allow for things to happen more than words can. Sometimes silence is golden as people say. Other times silence is hurtful. When we see people suffering unjustly and we do nothing and say nothing silence is bad. When we can heal a person or a relationship with words of regret or apologies, then silence is not a good thing. Just as with shouting we need to know when to shout and when to be silent and everything in between. We need to find the balance to provide a good and healthy and loving response.

In Jesus’ response there seems to be a profound statement. That even if the people in the world were silent or forced to be silent, the world itself would not be. Even in the silence, the lack of shouting, or suppression of shouting does not in any way change or negate the fact that Jesus is in fact king. Perhaps not the king to rule over Israel by governing the country, but Jesus is king, and no matter the amounts of verbal shouting or the utter silence, nothing can change that. Nothing can change that Jesus came to save the people from themselves. Jesus would be crowned king, and more importantly savior, in spite of what the world would want to have happen.

So today, Palm Sunday we experience shouting and we experience silence. Both have good and bad parts to them which is why we need to find the balance between the two. And more importantly we need to find the balance of shouting and silence when it comes to our faith and the way that we express it. Shouting today is good, silence on Friday is good. There is a balance between how we express our faith and the way we express our faith. And to know just as Jesus said, that in the shouting and in the silence, there is nothing that will change the pure and profound fact that Jesus is our king. There is no shouting and there is no silence that will ever change God’s love for us. As we leave Lent behind and begin our Holy Week, may we know the profound love of God through what Jesus did on this most holiest of weeks, and may we share our love back to God with appropriate shouts of joy and times of silence and wherever and whenever we experience God in everything in between. Amen.