The Pharisees

In this sixth installment of our Lent series Hearing Voices, we turn our attention to a group we often love to judge—the Pharisees. Found in Luke 19:39–40, their demand to silence the crowd during Jesus’ triumphal entry reveals more than just religious rigidity—it reveals a heart resistant to uncomfortable truth.

In this episode, Pastor Jason gets honest about his own bias against the Pharisees and his struggle to sympathize with the "older brother" in the prodigal son story. But as we dig deeper, we discover that the Pharisees’ reaction may hit closer to home than we’d like to admit.

What if their fear, pride, and resistance mirror our own when God’s truth threatens our comfort?
 What if we, too, try to silence the very voices meant to draw us closer to Jesus?

This message invites us to examine our hearts, surrender our defenses, and embrace the bold, sometimes disruptive, truth of Christ—no matter how it comes. Because when the people are silent, the stones will shout.

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Enjoy this message? Consider visiting Ravenna Church of the Nazarene where Pastor Jason is the Senior Pastor. Have a prayer need? Want to share something with Pastor Jason?

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Chapters

• 0:00 Trailer [linktree link]
• 0:18 Theme song--"The Dirt Path" by Jeremy Edwards
• 1:22 Podcast Greeting
• 3:28 Introduction: The voice you don't want to hear
• 8:16 Reading of the Passage: Luke 19:39-40
• 8:34 v39 The Pharisees' objection
• 12:35 v40 Jesus' response
• 15:02 What does this teach us?
• 19:39 How should we apply this?
• 28:03 Invitation: Let the stones be silent
• 34:37 Closing prayer [contact form link]
• 36:38 Outro

Transcript

HEARING VOICES

#6 THE PHARISEES

Our Lent series is called “Hearing Voices,” and no—we are not talking about the voices in our heads. We have been listening closely to the voices of the people Jesus interacted with on His journey to the cross—voices often overlooked, misunderstood, or silenced. Today, we will look at a group that gets judged the harshest in our study of the gospels, and unfortunately, may reveal something about ourselves. The question is, can we handle the truth?

     Sometimes, someone has to tell us a truth we need to hear but do not want to hear. Most of you know that before being called to ministry, I wanted to coach football. And I thought I would spend all four years playing in high school. But after my freshman year, I was only five and a half feet tall weighing in at maybe a hundred pounds with my gear on. The head coach, a man I respected, called me in for a meeting. He told me that due to my size, it was unlikely I would get to play and my risk for injury would be high, but he followed that with, “But I know you love the game. And I do not want to hinder that, so I would like to ask you to become a manager.” I heard the truth in the coach’s words, but I wanted to play. Rather than accept the truth, I rejected them, choosing to walk away altogether.

     Now, God was leading me down a different path, so everything worked out. But I had to hear something I did not want to hear and decide what to do with it. That is what was happening on Palm Sunday—joyful praises, but also pushback. In our passage for today, the Pharisees hear something they do not want to hear—and try to silence it. So we will not be focusing on the praising crowd today but on the Pharisees. Their response will teach us something about what it means to follow Jesus.

     Luke 19:39-40(CEB):

39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, scold your disciples! Tell them to stop!”

40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.”

This is the word of God

For the people of God

Thanks be to God

     This entire conversation happens as Jesus enters Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover with the disciples. Jesus entered the city riding a donkey, with the disciples and the crowd shouting praises. All four gospels record this event, with the crowd recognizing Jesus as the Messiah by waving palm branches, throwing down their clothes, and shouting. Things people do when a king triumphantly enters a city. 

     Of course, the Pharisees watched all of this like a group of Karens waiting to see the manager. Verse 39 records their response, “Teacher, scold your disciples! Tell them to stop!” The disciples and the crowd believed Jesus to be the Messiah, but the Pharisees did not. For them, this was blasphemy and offensive to their theology. And maybe equally frightening as their own offense, the Pharisees were worried the whole scene would offend the Romans, who had a tower watching the whole thing. The Romans did not like demonstrations, so the Pharisees were worried the garrison stationed nearby would be deployed and aggressively end the gathering. They expected humility from Jesus—not acceptance of praise.

     But Jesus responds in verse 40 with, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.” Jesus makes His identity unmistakably clear—affirming what the crowd implied with their shouts. If the people did not rejoice in this truth, then even the rocks would shout. Truth will not be silenced. The Pharisees wanted to silence the crowd because the praise revealed more than they were ready to accept. But Jesus insisted: the truth must be spoken—even when it is disruptive.

     What does this teach us? A heart not fully surrendered to Jesus will always resist bold, disruptive truth—even when it comes from God. The Pharisees were not bad people. They were moral and religious, believing they were devoted to God. But they were also proud, fearful, and resistant to change. When someone is fully surrendered to Jesus, entirely sanctified, it is the end of resistance to God’s voice—wherever it comes from. Sometimes, truth sounds like a crowd shouting praise when we would rather have quiet control. Sanctified hearts welcome the uncomfortable truths that draw us deeper into obedience.

     What does this look like? It means when there is a passionate new believer who is ready to charge the gates of Hell with a water pistol, instead of telling them to put the gun down and march in line we guide them to the fire hose. When someone challenges our comfort zone, instead of saying “This is the way we have always done it,” we hear them out and wrestle with what they are seeing when we cannot see it. If the Holy Spirit convicts us through Scripture or worship, rather than dismissing it as a disruption to our lives we embrace the transformation God wants to bring in us. Entire sanctification invites us to say, “No more resisting. No more silencing. Even if it is difficult, disrupting, and scary, I want truth.”

     To do that, we have to let go of Pharisee-like tendencies. The Pharisees were so convinced their theological understanding was correct that their pride blinded them to the truth. Pride says, “I know better.” The sanctified heart says, “God, I am not sure, but I am trusting you.” The Pharisees were fearful of the Romans violently stepping in. Fear says, “This might get messy.” The sanctified heart says, “Your Spirit in me is greater than the storm inside and outside me. If you can speak order into the nothing and chaos, you can speak it into what surrounds me.”

     Jesus answered them, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.” The Pharisees thought silencing the crowd would silence the truth that threatened them. But then they still would have to deal with creation doing the praising for them. Will creation have to do the praising for you? Or will you join in—even when it costs you pride, safety, or comfort? Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus still walks into our lives today, and His presence demands a response.

     If you have resisted truth—if you have silenced praise or pushed back on the Holy Spirit, today can be a day of full surrender.