“But turning to them Jesus said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. […] For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’” (Luke 23:28; 23:31)
As soon as Pilate pronounced the sentence, Jesus was led away to the place where He would be crucified. Normally, a condemned person had to carry the crossbeam himself, but Jesus was apparently so weakened by all that He had already endured in agony, interrogation and mistreatment that a casual passerby had to carry His crossbeam. Jesus was at the end of His strength.
And yet His attention still turned to women standing by the roadside crying. He warned them. For Jesus knew that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would experience horrible things. And indeed, Jerusalem was razed to the ground by the Romans in 70 AD. The history books record appalling atrocities against the local people.
But Jesus’ warning is still relevant today. For us too, there is the danger of being impressed by Jesus’ suffering and watching it from the sidelines, as it were. But if we stop there, we do not benefit from His atoning death. Judgment will eventually come upon us too. And if we have not then been reconciled to God through Jesus, our fate will be worse than the suffering Jesus endured — for it will be eternal.
Do you take Jesus’ warning seriously? How do you respond?
Image by James Tissot Collection (Brooklyn Museum), available on the website of Free Bible Images