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Luke 23:26–31
“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!”’” (vv. 28–29).
Crucifixion was the cruelest and most shameful method of execution in the ancient world. The Greeks and Romans may have learned the practice from the Persians, and the Roman Empire reserved it for foreigners and slaves. One of the two crimes that could merit crucifixion was treason, for which the Romans killed Jesus. Convicts carried their own crossbeam, called the patibulum, to the site of crucifixion. The crossbeam was then hoisted up and attached to the vertical stake that was already there. The brutal public death served to warn onlookers not to commit the same crime for which the crucified person was executed.
Jesus carried His own crossbeam for a time, but then the Roman soldiers took a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, to carry it for Him (Luke 23:26; see John 19:17). This Simon, Mark 15:21 tells us, was the father of Rufus. This may be the same Rufus whom Paul greets in Romans 16:13; if so, it indicates that Simon and his family came to believe in Jesus. Perhaps having a unique role in our Lord’s death led them to reflect on Him and realize that He is the Messiah. The Roman soldiers who led Jesus to the crucifixion site did not carry the crossbeam because such an act was considered beneath the dignity of Roman citizens.
Luke 23:27 tells us that a crowd of people, including some weeping women, followed and lamented for our Savior. These may have been professional mourners, or it could be that while they had been hostile to Jesus in some way, they never wanted to see Him endure such a shameful death. Seeing the mourners, Jesus turned to them and told them to weep not for Him but for themselves and their children. A day was coming, He warned them, when they would consider barren women blessed and would cry out for the hills to fall on them (vv. 28–30). He was referring to the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which was God’s judgment on the nation for rejecting their Messiah. The city’s end was going to be so devastating that it would have been better for the residents of Jerusalem to have no families at all. Moreover, the city’s doom was certain. Jesus said that if He, the green wood, could be killed by the Romans, how much more would the city’s residents, the dry wood, burn (v. 31)? Dead, dry wood, of course, burns more easily than living green wood, and Jesus was referring to the city’s end by fire and the fact that the people would deserve it.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Even as Jesus went to His death, He knew that the crucifixion would not be the last word. Those who had convicted Him unjustly and not repented would suffer for their crimes. Their judgment was delayed, not canceled. Similarly, from our perspective the judgment of those who hate Christ and His church has been delayed; nevertheless, this judgment will surely come upon the impenitent.
For further study
- Isaiah 53:4
- Zechariah 12:10–14
- Matthew 27:32
- Mark 8:34
The bible in a year
- Ezekiel 37–38
- 1 Peter 4