28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
— Luke 4:28-30, ESV

I’m very pleased to see the renewed interest in the life and career of Bob Dylan, since the release of the Academy Award nominated movie, A Complete Unknown.  Having collected most of his albums and attend about a half dozen concerts, I can say I am a complete fan.  

He is the most prolific and provocative singer-songwriter in history, the only one ever to be awarded The Nobel Prize for literature.  His lyrics are studied profusely for the contribution they have made to just protest, racial equality, profound poetry, and sheer honesty.  Because of his Jewish upbringing and adult conversion to Christianity, many of his songs are filled with biblical references.

Not the least of which is one of his earliest, and most controversial:

 Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re trying to be so good.
 They’ll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
 They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to go home.
 Then they’ll stone ya when you’re there all alone.
 But I would not feel so all alone,
 Everybody must get stoned.

Since it was written in the 1960’s, everyone thought it was a song about smoking marijuana or using other drugs.  But a careful look at the lyrics reveals a tale not about getting stoned but about being stoned.  It is a song about people being persecuted for doing good.  Dylan himself proclaimed, “I’ve never written a drug song.”  And about this one, he said, “It doesn’t surprise me that some people would see it that way. But these are people that aren’t familiar with the Book of Acts.”

The stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:54-60 was preceded and precipitated by the attempted stoning and eventual crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.  All three events are recorded by Luke.  Luke alone wrote about this near death experience which occurred at the beginning of Christ’s ministry in Nazareth.  

This is an episode when Jesus’ life and ministry was nearly taken before His time.  This is a time that tore Jesus away from His hometown for good.  This is a situation that must have made our Savior feel very much alone.  But true Christians cannot leave Christ alone.  “Everybody must get stoned.”

Why did they try to stone Jesus?

First of all, let us clarify that this was a first class stoning about to take place.  The text tells us “They rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff” (vs. 29).  A cliff is just a great big stone, and typically a victim of stoning would be cast down to the ground before the forecast called for a deluge of rocks.  

The context explains the text.  Early in His ministry, Jesus had just served as a lector (Scripture reader) during a worship service in His home church (synagogue).  In conclusion He offered a comment, a precise interpretation of His text.  He claimed to be the Messiah, the direct fulfillment of His reading, Isaiah 61:1-2.  This proved too hard to believe for the home folks, presumably even His own family (ref. Mark 3:20-21).  Double rejection ensued, they of Jesus and Jesus of them.  Prejudice poured fuel on the fire when Jesus indicated He would take His good news to non-Jews.  Then, the search began for a suitable place for a stoning.

Let the setting sink in.  The people in that synagogue had watched Jesus grow up, since He was a baby.  Glossing over His sinless perfection, they considered He was merely one of them, younger than most, possessing no inherit superiority or authority over them.  Then, Jesus proclaimed to them that He was, is, and always will be the Messiah, Savior, Lord, God.

Our Minister of Music Tom Bolton’s son, Brian, is the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church of Pine Bluff, where Tom was Minister of Music when Brian was born to Tom and, ironically, mother Mary.  The folks in that church watched Brian grow up, kept him in their nursery, maybe even changed his diapers.  Imagine if he stood up while leading them in worship and claimed to be God.  Now, I’ve known some Ministers of Music who thought they were God, but not either of the Boltons.  But, just imagine such a scene.

On that Sabbath in Nazareth, years of polite flattery turned into impolite sarcasm, sarcasm turned to anger (“filled with wrath,” vs. 28), and anger turned to stoning, or at least the attempt.  “Passing through their midst, He went away” (vs. 30).  Imagine leaving your home church where everyone there wants to kill you.  

As far as we know Jesus never came back.  There is no record in the Gospels of any further ministry in Nazareth, only a passing comment that Jesus wouldn’t work there because of their unbelief (ref. Matthew 13:58).  That must have been very lonely.

But Jesus would not be all alone.  He moved to Capernaum, which became His home base for His messianic ministry.  There he quickly found some fishermen, Peter and Andrew, James and John, who surrendered to Jesus as Lord, followed Him everywhere, became intoxicated with His word, and carried out His commandments.  “Everybody must get stoned.”

Why did they stone followers of Jesus?

Jesus escaped the literal stoning, but could not, would not, escape the cross.  After the crucifixion and resurrection, Peter and Andrew, James and John, and the other Apostles carried on.  The workload got so heavy they had to call some Deacons to help.  One of the Deacons was named Stephen.  Stephen got stoned.

James, brother of John, was martyred before Stephen was murdered.  After Stephen was stoned, the Pharisee Saul saw to the imprisonments and murders of many other Christians, before he became a Christian himself on the Damascus Road.  As the Christian Apostle Paul, his life was under constant threat.  He was stoned at least once (ref. Acts 14:19), before finally being executed under the evil, anti-Christian, emperor Nero.  

In every era, from apostolic to patriarchal to medieval to reformation to modern, Christians have been killed for the witness for Christ.  More have been murdered in the past century than the first nineteen combined.  “Everybody must get stoned.”

Why?  For the same reasons the Nazarenes tried to stone Jesus of Nazareth.  Christians claim confidently that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord, the one true and living God.  Christians claim confidently that if you reject Jesus as Lord, you will be rejected by the Lord.  Christians claim confidently that only Christians can live eternally in the kingdom of God, while all others will be cast out where there will be “weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth” (ref. Luke 13:28).  Whenever Christians claim this confidently enough, as two thousand years of church history prove, you can confidently expect the stones, figuratively or literally, to fly. 

Where are your stones?

Can I tell you about some of mine?

I was stoned in college by friends and teammates simply for becoming a Christian.  Not all of them, mind you, but most of them refused to further associate with me because of my belief, backed up by my behavior, that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Believing the gospel is important to me, and I pray it is to you.  It is more than worth a few stones.

I was stoned in my first church because I believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God.  Most of the stoners left, however, but a few stones remained.  I would have enjoyed being there much longer, just too many stones.  Believing the Bible is important to me, and I pray it is to you.  It is worth more than a few stones.

I was stoned in my second church because I believe in salvation by sovereign grace alone through God-given faith alone in Jesus Christ as Lord.  This time they dragged me out of the city and left my ministry to die.  A few good souls picked me up and dusted me off and began a new church.  I would have enjoyed being there much longer, just too many stones still in town.  Believing in the sovereignty of God over every sphere of life, especially salvation, is important to me, and I pray it is to you.  It is worth more than a few stones.

I was stoned in my third church because I believe biblical church government is carried on by a plurality of elders who serve by leading and fortified by deacons who lead by serving.  I survived this stoning for a season, and would have enjoyed being there much longer, but my own wife at the time stoned me by deciding she no longer wanted to be faithful to her vows as a Christian, wife, and mother.  Believing in doing God’s work God’s way is important to me, and I pray it is to you.  It is worth more than a few stones.

I have even been stoned by my home church, posthumously so to speak, because I refuse to abide by the pedantic, legalistic attitude that any use of alcohol is sinful; and, because I believe divorced men can serve as Pastors and Deacons if their own sexual immorality did not cause the divorce.  Finally I have come to know at least a tinge of the loneliness Jesus felt when He realized He couldn’t go home again.  Believing in the Reformation, that God’s word must rise above man-made traditions, is important to me, and I pray it is to you.  It is more than worth a few stones.

Now, at long last, I serve in a church where there are no stones, at least not yet.  I think a couple of older ladies had a few when I first arrived, but I am still here and they are long gone.  It is an astounding shame that in this day and age so many of the stones thrown at Christians come from the Christian church.  May it never be here, I pray.

I am not asking you to go out looking for stones.  They will come to you soon enough, if you are a faithful follower of the one they tried to stone in Nazareth.  They may come from the synagogue, like the ones they threw at Jesus.  They may come from the church, like the ones that have been thrown at me.  They will most likely come from the school, or the workplace, or the community where you live, worship, and witness for Christ.  

When they come, just remember, when it comes to being a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not alone.  “Everybody must get stoned.”