The children were shouting and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” This displeased the chief priests and the scribes, and they said to him, “Do you not hear what these are saying?” That means, “If these praises do not please you, make them keep silent.” At his birth and at his death, children were intertwined in the crown of his sufferings. When he met Christ, the infant John jumped for joy within the womb.’ Children were murdered at his birth.’ They were like the grapes of his wedding feast. Children also proclaimed his praise when the time of his death approached. Jerusalem was in turmoil’ at his birth, just as it was in turmoil again and trembling’ the day that he entered it. When the scribes heard, they were displeased, and they were saying to him, “Stop them!” he said to them, “If these become silent, the stones will cry out.” The scribes preferred that the children would cry out rather than the stones. This, how-ever, was reserved for later, because the stones were crying out at the time of his crucifixion,” but those with words were silent. Speechless things proclaimed his greatness.
Ephrem the Syrian
Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 118.2
