Props: Little bucket with stones (as above)
Hello boys and girls! What is special about today? [Responses] Yes, it's Palm Sunday. We’ll talk about that in a minute, but you know I always bring something in my little bag to show you. Here it is: a bucket of rocks! [Just show bucket] These guys thought they were coming to a rock concert! Ha! Now here‘s a mystery: why would I bring this bucket to show you on Palm Sunday?
Now it is the first Palm Sunday. Jesus and his disciples are coming into Jerusalem. Jesus has arranged for a donkey, and the disciples have spread their garments over him and here comes Jesus riding on the donkey. There’s a great crowd of people and they are going wild! “Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosannah in the highest!” they shout. And they throw their garments on the road in front of Jesus and wave palm branches over their heads and throw them on the road. It’s all very exciting. There were some Pharisees there too, and they didn’t exactly like Jesus! “Teacher,” they said, “tell all these people to be quiet!” Jesus answered, “I tell you, if they were all quiet, the very stones would shout out.”
So, we’re back to my stones. We don’t think of stones crying out, or speaking, but I bet each of these stones has a story to tell! This cheeky little one could tell how he was picked up by David the shepherd boy, put in a slingshot, and thrown through the air, hitting the bad giant Goliath on the head.
This grumpy one might tell how Elijah used him to help build an altar – a pile of stones, on which there was adead animal for sacrifice. And how the priests of Ball poured water over the animal (and over him!), and then God zapped it with lightning. It was a shocking affair! But it showed that God was the greatest.
And this singing one could tell how he was part of Solomon’s Temple, built for the praise and worship of God.
Then this thoughtful stone might tell us of the parable of Jesus in which the wise man built his house upon the rock, showing that if we build our lives on God, we’ll be firm and strong when life gets hard.
But we’re not going to hear any of these stories. Bad luck kids! Because Jesus said that the stones would cry out and speak only if no one was praising him. And we are all here at church to worship and praise Jesus our Lord!
Lord Jesus, thank you for your love, and for your life given for us. We come this morning to praise and worship you. And thank you. Amen.
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