Jesus' words Luke 23: 28-31

Imagine Jesus, as he was being led away to be crucified, ... turning and speaking to these daughters of Jerusalem. The custom in these times was that the mourners would be following along behind the one marching to Golgotha, condemned to death, in this case, Jesus. They were mourning over the treatment of Jesus, probably devastated at His tortured physical condition and the suffering he was in. He had been beaten and whipped to the point of death. Isaiah says that "his visage was marred more than any other"; Isaiah also says in scripture that his beard was ripped off of his face. Having endured the lashing or whipping by the Roman soldiers, which, according to their own law, was a torture that came only one lash short of death. Many victims apparently did not survive the customary 39 lashes. So Pilate's offer to chastise & release him (23:16) was not a simple slap on the wrist, but could have easily brought him very close to the point of death. Interestinly, Simon, a Cyrenian, (N. African) was called upon to carry the cross beam for Jesus, possibly due to His weakened condition. The impact of this humble act was that eventually Simon came to know Christ, as did his sons also in later scripture (tell us- Mark 15:21, Rom 16:1)

The daughters of Jerusalem ~ weeping behind Jesus ~ what did His words to them really mean? Having heard and read this scripture before, this time around I began deeply wondering: What did Jesus mean, why was He saying what He said?

"But Jesus, turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have never bare, and the papas which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"

I think Jesus' message was simple. It once again showed the love and compassion He had for mankind & for those specifically which He came to seek and save ("For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 and also John 17: His words to the Father were "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word." Those who ultimately are saved always were the Father's which truly reveals the sovereign grace of God).

But in this instance, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem He continues to warn them of the great trials which await those who are His and will endure. In this case, He was basically saying to them, if they are doing this to me, an innocent man ("a green tree") what will they do to the guilty ("the dry") ??

In fact, the previous verses contain an obvious contrast between one who bears a child , and one who does not bear a child, did you notice Jesus said ironically the childless woman would be considered the blessed one? {Only a woman can bear a child and in scripture, and "woman" has always been used as a term referring to Jesus' Bride, or to Jesus' Church.} A true member of Jesus Church will not only say he or she is a Christian, but they will bear the mark of a Christian, (bear the child) which often is borne through suffering and persecution. Jesus is showing His love and concern for them by using His greatest moment of agony and suffering to speak to these daughters to prepare them for their own times of suffering ahead -He knew a time of great sorrow, or of a great contradiction, would eventually come upon the world.

Imagine a world so confused in our day that they slaughter & are quick to condemn the righteous all the while they uphold sin, evil, wickedness and perverseness. So confused as to believe and called blessed a bride or a church which would only visibly appear to be a woman ( a church) but inwardly they would be full of hypocrisy & evil (not bearing the child at all) Spiritually, it would not be the fruitful Bride for His kingdom at all, though it would have an outward appearance, i.e. a building, church memberships, meetings, committees, programs. But in reality without the inward power of the Holy Spirit to produce true abiding and transforming spiritual life, it would not be His Church at all. Jesus said the multitudes would not recognize this at all.

The sorrow that He carried with him on His way to the Cross shows it was not for His own suffering or even for those who crucified Him (He asked the father to simply forgive them, for they knew not what they were doing) His deepest agony was for you and I, to admonish us of the horrible time coming when the world would call evil good, and good evil. When they would not even recognize the path to true spiritual humility as a child of God but instead would only desire an outward form of godliness. History simply repeats itself.