They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:35-40)   Jesus, the Prince of Peace enters Jerusalem—the "City of Peace"—to the shouts of Peace, Glory, and Blessing from Jesus' disciples.  Jesus' presence in Jerusalem would stir up all sorts of passions: shouts of praise, opposition, betrayal, and clandestine assassination plots.  His presence would reveal the motivations of many hearts: many for good and many for ill.  But this stirring of passions would not bring peace.  Just conflict.  And that conflict begins here with the Pharisees demanding that Jesus rebuke his disciples for such a ruckus display.  Especially because such a display smacked of messiah-ship and king-ship that seemed utterly out of place for a mere rabbi. Jesus' reply, far from calming things down, actually ups the ante.  Firstly, as Pastor Michael said yesterday, Jesus is clearly not keeping his messiah-ship a secret anymore.  It's out there now, loud and proud.  But secondly, why would the disciples silence cause the rocks to cry out?  That would only be the case if Jesus was more than a Rabbi, more than a King, more even than a Messiah.  The rocks would only cry out if Jesus was God himself.  Way back in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Moses calls the heavens and the earth to serve as witnesses of the covenant between God and his people.  It may be that Jesus had these texts in mind as he responded to the Pharisees.  To deny the coming of God to his people would surely give the earth cause to cry out in protest!  In Matthew's gospel, the rocks do cry out at Jesus' crucifixion as an earth quake shakes Jerusalem.     So, here in Jerusalem—the city of peace—everything finally comes to a head.  The temperature rises and the conflict heats up.  This stirring of passions would not bring Jesus to a throne.  Nor would it bring peace—only death.  Jesus' death.  But then again—perhaps there is more here that meets the eye.  Because ultimately, Jesus' death did bring peace.  And a throne.  Just perhaps not the kind anyone was expecting.  Perhaps still not the kind of peace or rule that we expect.      

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