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)
As Jesus was being led to the cross, many people, who were not privy to the proceedings that brought the pronouncement of death, flocked to His support. Luke, who often shows the part of women in the life and ministry of Jesus, records this event where they mourned what was happening. And mourning was appropriate, but not mainly for the reason they did so. Israel was rejecting their Messiah, and so, would bring upon herself destruction - a destruction Jesus had spoken about. Just as He had had compassion and wept over Jerusalem, He was still the compassionate Christ here, as He was concerned over these women. Weep they should - in repentance and faith, accepting Him as Messiah. Because judgment day is coming. And if the Romans crucified Him as an innocent Man, what would they do with a nation with blood on their hands? When the judgment of God would come, it would not be like green wood, full of life like He was, that would overcome the fire (His resurrection), but it would be an all-consuming fire that rushes through a pile of dead brush.
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