For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?

 

 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 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 

 

Yesterday we read 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 to them at the feast).  And they all cried out at once, saying, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas" -- who has 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.  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."  My study Bible comments that weeping is not appropriate for the One who redeems the world through the Cross, but is suited for one's own sins and for the sufferings of others.  

 

 "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).  Let us once again observe Jesus' particular sympathy with women, so often given us in St. Luke's Gospel.  My study Bible quotes from the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who writes, "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?"

 

"Then they will begin 'to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" ' "   Jesus is quoting from the prophesy of Hosea.  See Hosea 10:8.

 

 "For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"  My study Bible explains that the green wood is Christ, full of virtue and truth.  The dry stands for those who have rejected Christ for their corruption, barren of all life and of all righteousness.  If the Romans eagerly destroy the righteous, it asks, what horrifying things await the unrighteous?  

 

 Jesus speaks with a warning to the women of Jerusalem in particular, about what is to come at the Siege of Jerusalem.  We note the deeply sympathetic tone that distinguishes Jesus, perhaps particularly in His addresses and interactions with women.  His empathy extends to maternal feelings that make it impossible to separate from a child being nursed, with an understanding that is striking.  As Jesus quotes from Hosea 10, He's making allusion through analogy to the similar circumstances, because the people have rejected their God.  They have rejected the Christ, and so the same scenario, by interpretation of His quotation, plays out.  That is, it will play out to its terrible, fiery, fierce combustion in the Siege of Jerusalem one generation hence.  A murderer and rebel has been chosen for release over Jesus the Christ (see yesterday's reading, above).  False accusation and lies have claimed the day, at the hands of the religious leadership of of the nation, and carried out through the Roman authorities by such persuasion as was mustered.  Those acts are hallmarks of what it means to reject God and to embrace the works of the spiritual enemies of God.  However, the main story here is precisely and simply what Jesus has said as He wept over Jerusalem in chapter 19, saying, "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 . . . because you did not know the time of your visitation" (see Luke 19:41-44).  It is really the rejection of God and God's way, when there has been enormous preparation for the coming of the Messiah, that constitutes not knowing the things that make for the peace of Jerusalem.  Today, and in all times, it is up to us to consider what remains "the things that make for our peace."  For we are always offered this choice.  Do we choose our Messiah, the Christ?  Do we seek to follow His way for ourselves and in our lives?  Do we choose to seek His will?  Will we also miss the time of our visitation, and it come upon us like a snare?  (See Luke 21:35).   Will we be conformed to the world or to Christ?  In a time when the world is bent on consuming every new thing technology can afford to us, let us consider what Jesus tells the disciples about the food they don't know.  Let us learn our own lesson, and seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and remember what manner of spirit we are of.  For behind all things is a spiritual battle that rages for our hearts and our minds, and it truly matters where our treasure is.  In today's reading, Jesus alludes to the opposite of what makes for our peace, the spirit of rage, if you will, that responds even to the green with crucifixion.  And what will it do in the dry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

 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 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 

 

Yesterday we read 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 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 comments that the name Simon means "obedience."  It says that this faithful man stands for all who desire to follow Christ and carry the cross Christ 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 for your children."  My study Bible states here that weeping is not appropriate for the One who redeems the world through the Cross, but it is rather suited for one's own sins and for the sufferings of others. 

 

 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!"'  This blessing on the barren women is an acknowledgement of the overwhelming pain a mother endures at seeing her children suffer (which is illustrated by the "woe" in Matthew 24:19).  St. John Chrysostom writes, "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 quotes from Hosea 10:8, tying these events to prophecy.

 

 "For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"  The green wood is understood to be Christ full of virtue and truth.  The dry stands for the religious leaders and those who follow who are barren of all lie and of all righteousness, my study Bible says.  Note that this also ties in with the themes of Hosea's prophecy, from which Jesus quotes in the previous verse, above, whose prophetic ministry focused on the faithlessness and infidelity of God's people.  My study Bible explains this saying with a question:  If the Romans eagerly destroy the righteous (and Pilate has declared three times he found no evil in Jesus), what horrifying things await the unrighteous?

Clearly there is a hint in the language here, and especially in the quotation from Hosea, that the terrible destruction and hardship to come to Jerusalem in the near future (that is, within a generation from this time in which Christ goes to the Cross) needs to be seen from the perspective of a people who have failed to receive the literal Word of God.  That is, similarly to the ways that the true prophets of Israel were rejected in their time, so it is now with Christ, the Son, who is sent from God (John 4:34).  This is the context in which we read the violence to come.  Jesus says, "For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"  He has clearly framed this statement to include Himself as a recipient of the violence which He sets out as on a continuum, within an extended period of time.  To compare the green wood to the dry is to compare healthy wood in a growing tree to one that has exhausted its life and lost its sap.  The violence that begins with His death on the Cross will extend to the "dry wood," that is, to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, in a fire which will engulf the city.  In this light, the "dry wood" analogy becomes even more profound and apt.  We might also consider this unruly mob who has called for Jesus' crucifixion, having been deliberately instigated by those who want Jesus dead, who shout with loud voices that it is Barabbas who should be freed.  We can compare it to the Roman soldiers who will lay siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD, who, although their commander wanted to preserve the splendid temple for his own purposes, in a paroxysm of passion destroyed not only the beautiful temple but the entire city down to its foundations.  In this viewpoint, Jesus indeed prophecies correctly regarding the violence to the green wood and its apogee in the dry.  If the Romans, represented chiefly by Pilate, but also by Herod, allow Christ to be crucified at the behest of this crowd although they know He is innocent, think what is to come in the extreme and chaotic heat of furious battle.  While we cannot say that bad things happen to people as a direct result of sin (certainly we know that Jesus will suffer and that He did not sin; see also John 9:1-4), we might also say that when spiritually we are being called in a particular direction, and we ignore that call, there may be events that happen in our lives which seek to pull us in the direction we need.  On the other hand, there are times when we absolutely know where a spiritual pull from God who loves us would like us to go, and we ignore that call for all kinds of other, bad reasons, such as selfishness, or the pursuit of false idols and passions.   In the case in today's reading, those who seek to persecute Christ know He is innocent of the charges they bring against Him, but in their quest for power, justice comes second, and truth comes last.  These religious leaders are also those who should know better than all others what the signs of the Messiah, the Christ, look like.  In Christ, the injustice is compounded, as He is not merely an Innocent, but One sent by God to heal and redeem, to love and to save.  Let us consider, therefore, Jesus' words regarding the green wood and the dry, and take them to heart.  It is remarkable how often simply going along with a crowd puts us in spiritual danger.  How far do we go down a road of injustice, when we know what we do is wrong, even if convenient?  Are there truths we will ignore or bend to "get along"?  Are there ways in which we ignore the pull of our prayer lives?  We move in a world in which spiritual forces play a role, although we do not see them.  Let us take it to heart that our choices do indeed make a difference, and an impact on the future.

 

 

 

Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!

 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 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

Yesterday we read that Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them as he presented Jesus before 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 hi they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.   Simon means "obedience," my study bible says.  This faithful man, Simon of Cyrene, stands for all who desire to follow Christ and carry the cross He places on them (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 for your children."    A note tells us here that weeping isn't appropriate for the One who redeems the world through the Cross.  But it is suited for one's own sins and for the suffering of others.

"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!"'"  Jesus is referring in these verses to the events that are to come in Jerusalem, which will manifest in AD 70 at the Siege of Jerusalem.  This blessing on the barren women is an acknowledgment, my study bible says, of the overwhelming pain a mother endures seeing her children suffer (illustrated by the "woe" in Matthew 24:19).  St. John Chrysostom writes of this passage:  "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 quotes from the prophesy of Hosea 10:8, giving spiritual reference to the outcome of this time.   See also the reading in which Jesus wept over Jerusalem before entering the city at the beginning of Holy Week, saying, "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?"  The green wood, my study bible notes, is Christ -- who is full of virtue and truth.  The dry stands for this population destitute of spiritual leadership and the virtue it would encourage, barren of life and righteousness.  If the Romans will eagerly destroy the righteous, then what horrifying things await the unrighteous?

Jesus knows what is to happen in Jerusalem within the current generation. A great destruction will come that will level the temple and destroy the people, leading to a time of exile and dispersion.  Hence, His warning words about what is to come.  Many of His followers survived the destruction, due to His warnings to the Church.  But His words, "If they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" serve as warnings to us now.  Indeed, there is nothing in the Gospels that stands simply as a lesson about the past.  Everything teaches us about ourselves, our present, our choices, our faith, our weaknesses and temptations.  What decisions do we make today?  Do we find ourselves, in some sense -- even in the most tangential of ties -- connected to decisions to harm those who are righteous or who have done no harm?  Do we take accountability for prayer for those who are innocent and need protection?  Do we concern ourselves with righteousness, and doing and seeing righteousness even when it is masked behind a popular dislike or manipulation against an unpopular cause or person?  These are the tough choices Christ calls us to make.  Indeed, in John 16:2, He tells His followers that "the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."  He assures us that the cause of the righteous is never lost with God, although it is true that the outcome of terrible choices may lag and be delayed, so that those who commit such errors as we find in His story remain unaware of the lessons they failed to learn at each choice offered.  Never is coercion offered by God, as repentance is voluntary.  This is a great mystery, and one with which we all may struggle, as we understand and know the mercy of God.  How is mercy compatible with the outcome of bad choices, of unrighteous behavior -- of a refusal to acknowledge the places God calls us to, even the conscience with which we're bestowed?  Let us be assured that Christ is with us, and so remains also the unrighteous behavior we read about in the Gospels.  Over and over again, Scripture calls us to awareness that the presence of the righteous among the unrighteous may save a city, a country, a group of people, some population in the world.  We may read the stories and find them quaint, or simply ancient.  But we must take it to heart that the importance of righteousness is not diminished -- not by time nor by fashion.  And the presence of God's love remains real for those who find it, and seek it, and return it, so that what they practice may also be a part of this world.  There are no rules that substitute for this living love nor for participation in God's energies of mercy, of grace.  We don't know how they may affect others.  But from Jesus' story, we do know they make a difference -- even in ways unforeseen by those who reject them with hard hearts and selfish choices.   He has taught us that even those who offer such a one so much as a cup of water will have his or her reward (see Matthew 10:41-42).  Let us remember His words.