April 8 | Luke 19:28-40

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DAILY READING

Luke 19:28-40

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REFLECTION

If They Keep Quiet

By Pam Mann

How did the owner of the colt know to trust his animal to Jesus’ disciples? Maybe he’d had a dream in which the Lord gave him a heads-up. Or, maybe he just felt a peace about lending the colt when the disciples explained what they were doing. I want to hear this guy’s story in heaven.

There was so much excitement running through the throng that day as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Weren’t lots of people thinking Jesus could be the Messiah? Wouldn’t the Passover be an ideal time to reveal His plan for the nation? Since even the disciples didn’t get what was ahead this week for Jesus, most of the crowd was likely confused about what was awaiting Jesus in Jerusalem.

One group of people, however, was not excited about Jesus and the miracles he’d accomplished. That was the Pharisees. They were particularly annoyed that the crowds were shouting praises to the Messiah that belonged to them. “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” said the Pharisees to Jesus, as if He wasn’t paying close enough attention to what was happening. But Jesus heard the crowds. He responded to the Pharisees, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

I had related this story to third grade students when I was a teacher at a Christian school in Haiti. We talked about how God intends for His people to be the ones praising Him. Of all that God has created, we are the creatures with the best capacity to worship Him. That day I said, “Wouldn’t it be terrible if God’s people did not praise Him and the rocks had to do it?”

Students mentioned how the beauty of a colorful sunset praises God. They said birds can sing praise to Him. Then, a car alarm sounded just outside our classroom window. This would happen from time to time, blasting for a minute or so before it stopped as abruptly as it began.

I asked the class, “Is that what the rocks would sound like while praising God?”

Several of the more gregarious kids in the class exchanged concerned glances. One boy exclaimed, “We can’t let a machine outdo us!” More than half the class jumped to their feet, lifting their arms and shouting praises to God. When the car horn quit blaring, they also sat with satisfied smiles. I was smiling, too, and commented that Jesus was no doubt pleased that they could praise Him longer and louder than a car horn.

After that day, whenever that car alarm went off, that class would stop whatever we were doing and have a brief praise-Jesus session. They were committed to not keeping quiet. And what about you?

PRAYER

Thank You, Jesus, that You accepted to be the humble king riding into Jerusalem to die in our place. We don’t want to keep quiet or be outdone by the rest of creation in praising You. Give the words and ways to rightly praise You. Amen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.

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