“The Stones Will Cry Out”
April 7, 2023
Every year during Holy Week, I think of Ringing Rocks Park, a 123-acre boulder field located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In addition to boasting the largest waterfall in Bucks County, it is known for rocks that ring. I have visited this park several times over the years, always remembering to bring along a hammer to strike the rocks and make them ring.
Stones do not usually ring, and even though all the stones are made of the same material, only one-third of them ring when struck lightly with a hammer. Why the rocks make a bell-like sound remains a mystery to science. Interestingly, the rocks that ring are known as “live” rocks, and those that do not are referred to as “dead” rocks.
On Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, we read one account, in Luke’s gospel, of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a humble donkey. A multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God, with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen.
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that 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!”
The crowd’s praise made Jesus’ enemies uncomfortable, and the Pharisees told Jesus to silence those who praised Him and received Him as King. However, Jesus said that if the crowd were silenced, the very stones would cry out.
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
I am not sure what those stones would sound like if they cried out. Would their cries of praise sound like the bell-ringing rocks in the boulder field? I do not know, but I do know that the “live” rocks would be singing out praise to Jesus, the living Rock of salvation. When hammers were used to crucify Christ on a cross, He became our rock and our salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. Psalm 62:2
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men] by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12