Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children

 

 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 laid 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 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 

 

 Then 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 to 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 laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. My study Bible notes that Simon means "obedience."  It says that this faithful man stands for all who desire to follow Christ and carry the cross He places on them (Luke 9:23; 14:27).  

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 your children."  My study Bible comments that weeping is not appropriate for the One who redeems the world through the Cross.  It is suited rather for one's own sins, and for the sufferings of others.  But Jesus is also referring to events to come in Jerusalem.

"For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!' "  The blessing on the barren women is an acknowledgement of the overwhelming pain a mother endures seeing her children suffer (illustrated by the "woe" in Matthew 24:19).  My study Bible cites the words of St. John Chrysostom:  "Mothers are held by the tie of feeling for their children, but cannot save them.  How can one escape the bonds of nature?  How can she who nurses ever overlook the one she has borne?"  Jesus' words here seem to continue in the same vein in which He prophesied the destruction to come in Jerusalem, manifest at the Siege of Jerusalem in AD 70.  See see Luke 21:20-24.

 

 "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?" My study Bible says that the green wood is Christ, full of virtue and truth.  The dry stands for the Jews, barren of life and of all righteousness.  It asks, if the Romans eagerly destroy the righteous, what horrifying things await the unrighteous?

One hallmark of an evil time seems to be that life reflects qualities we might experience as "upside down."  This is a time when lies are taken for truth, when manipulation and hearsay become "justice."  It's a time when the religious leaders are unjustly prosecuting the One known as a holy Man, and whom His followers call the Messiah, the Christ.  Jesus Himself calls out the upside-down nature of the time here, when He says to the women who mourn for Him, "For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!"  For this upside-down time is one characterized by Jesus in His prophesy of the destruction to come as "the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:22).    Jesus says, "Then they will begin 'to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'"  St. Cyril of Alexandria explains, "In extreme miseries, those less severe misfortunes become, so to speak, desirable" (Commentary on Luke, Homily 152).   What is considered a blessing becomes a curse -- and what is considered a curse becomes a blessing.   St. Cyril also explains Christ's remarks to the women as befitting a time that is "upside-down," for His death is not to be mourned, but celebrated, as He lives -- and He goes to His Crucifixion in order to destroy death itself.  In an upside-down and evil time, evil seems to have the upper hand by all appearances.  But the truth is that the action of God can use even this great evil to God's purpose -- meeting the upside-down action of evil with God's own logic and the power to defy it.  For the greatest blessings will come out of this greatest of evils.  In this way, some Church Fathers have indicated, evil is blind and stupid.  The trickster the devil is tricked into believing that Christ can be destroyed, and thereby we are all given the Resurrection.  And this is the good news of this upside-down time, for with God all things are possible!  If there is a time in life when one looks around, and sees all kinds of things that seem upside-down, when false is true and true is false, consider this scene and find what faith can do.  Perhaps especially at such a time, we have no idea what God may be doing.  Let us quote St. Paul, who draws upon the prophecy of Isaiah that we might understand:  "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written:  'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:7-10).  Let us consider the power of faith, as Jesus goes to His death.  With the women who mourn we may want to weep, but with the eyes of the Spirit, we might understand a greater truth that evil can't defy.  It's in Luke's Gospel that Jesus declares, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18).  Let us hold fast to His teaching and vision.