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Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they had the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed! then they will begin to say 'to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"' For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"
- Luke 23:26-31
It is Holy Week in Jerusalem, and Jesus has been betrayed by Judas and arrested, He has been denied by Peter, He has been mocked and degraded and subject to an unjust trial, He's been questioned by Pilate and Herod who both found nothing to the charges made by the leadership and mocked and humiliated again. In yesterday's reading, Luke tells us that Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, "You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him, no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him" (for it was necessary for him to release one of them at the feast). And they all cried out at once, saying, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas" -- who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder. Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. But they shouted, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Then he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go." But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.
Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they had the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. My study bible tells us: "What a great privilege to carry the cross of Christ. Simon the Cyrenian is a model of humble service for every Christian." Simon is most likely a Jew from Cyrene (an ancient Greek colony located in what is now called Libya), come to Jerusalem for the Passover. His sons Rufus and Alexander are named in the Gospel of Mark and therefore must have been considered notable members of the early Church.
And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. Luke gives us another side to this story, besides those who are with the leadership of the Temple.
And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed! then they will begin to say 'to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"'" My study bible says that these daughters of Jerusalem are "women of Jerusalem lamenting Jesus, mentioned only by Luke. In His words to them, Jesus envisions the calamity to befall Jerusalem." The calamity to befall Jerusalem is the Siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple which is to occur in 70 A.D. Jesus is quoting here from Hosea 10:8, another prophecy of destruction. In yesterday's commentary, we reviewed again Jesus' own lament as He wept over Jerusalem: "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
"For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" My study bible tells us: "This is a proverb comparing the fate of Jesus and the fate of Jerusalem. If the innocent Jesus (the green wood) suffered so, the sufferings of guilty Jerusalem (the dry wood) will be incomparably greater."
"If they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" Let us consider the meaning of Jesus' words. Many commentators have considered the "green wood" to refer to Jesus Himself as that which is fruitful. A green wood is full of sap and doesn't burn easily. It is full of life. But the dry is tinder for the fire; it is fire's most natural element. What will happen when the great multitude of "dry things" -- that is, those things that do not make for a true peace, multiply and are all that remain? Jesus suffers in such an inordinate way, but the implication here, for many commentators, is that His suffering is not so acute by comparison to what is to come. I think it's more than a commentary on the Romans and on the leadership, and more than a commentary on those who rejected Him and their failure to be anything but "dry wood." It's more than a commentary on the failure of the leadership to produce anything in Israel but "dry wood." It seems to me a commentary even on the nature of the violence of the world, the evil that is possible. If so much is afflicted upon the fruitful Jesus who is full of the life of God, then what awaits those who haven't that within them, the fruits that His ministry would produce? The destruction of Jerusalem will indeed be extreme and total; and as was predicted, not one stone would be left remaining on top of another of the Temple. So let us consider what it is to be the green wood. St. Ephrem the Syrian has said: "Perhaps he was referring the green wood to himself, because of the miracles he had done. He called the righteous who were without virtue, the dry wood. They ate the fruit of this green wood, and they rejoiced beneath its foliage. Then they took it in hatred and destroyed it. What more will they do to the dry wood, which does not even have a sprout? What more will they do to the ordinary righteous people who do not work miracles?" Jesus has also compared Israel to a fig tree that is without fruit. It's worth mentioning that what is translated as "green" here doesn't literally mean green, it means moist in the Greek. If really such cruelty and destruction and violence can be made up out of the life of the innocent One, what can happen then when all things are played out, this tree is withered and dry, because it has failed to know the things that make for its peace? Let us consider and look to ourselves, and look to the necessity of the sap of this tree, the good fruit it produces, and the water that enlivens it and keeps it moist. Jesus is teaching us about the essence of this fruitful nature, and its necessity especially in times that give us pain.
