Lent - Pt 40

And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that 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 when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:27-31 ESV).

If you are able to take the same route through Old Jerusalem, twisting through the limestone passageways, you may hear the tapping cadence of the Greek Orthodox bishop’s scepter. Dressed in liturgical costume, the bishop will also be swinging a smoking brazier of incense in rhythmic arcs as he leads a cluster of solemn, black-garbed priests through the crowds of people. They follow the Via Dolorosa every Thursday. Some will follow them while others are merely going about their daily tasks. The streets are busy with tourists and locals alike. The shops are busy. Many seem unaware that this is the very way of Jesus so many years ago that gave them forgiveness. When I walked that way I can recall a flood of thoughts. I did remember this “station of the cross” commemorating the weeping of the Daughters of Jerusalem. There are, of course, no archeological remains to commemorate the tears of Jerusalem’s daughters. The Gospel chronology recounts that by the time Jesus spoke to the women, Simon was already conscripted as His cross-bearer and crucifixion was a few heartbeats away. This is not the first time that the “daughters of Jerusalem” appear in the Biblical narrative. They figure prominently as the muse of the Beloved in the Song of Solomon sonnet. They helped her choose rightly between the flashy wealth of the king and the ardent true love of the Shepherd. The women in Luke attempt to do the same. They call to the Beloved — Israel — to choose between a powerful, consolidated leadership and Jesus the Good Shepherd. The daughters of Jerusalem are the conscience of the nation. On the day when Jesus spoke to the daughters of Jerusalem, they took the green tree and nailed the Savior of the world to it. The women wept because they thought Jesus had no one to carry on His name and His line would perish. But don’t cry for Him: For better or worse, we are His progeny. In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus… an inheritance that can never perish… kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1: 3, 4). This is the grace to be found in this time. Draw it into your heart as we near Easter.