The Women of Jerusalem lament
(Those of us who have had the privilege and honor of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land always make Jerusalem part of the holy time. There, although the Jewish Temple has been replaced by a grand mosque, we can see the very places we read about in the New Testament, the actions of our redemption through the life, passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many make the way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa, an ancient prayer service with stops at places that commemorate events of Our Lord’s tortuous journey to the place of His execution. Some of the stations, as they are called, are taken directly from the Gospels, some are inferred from the practice of crucifixion, and a few come from the more reliable Christian traditions.)
At the eighth station of the cross, the Church offers for our meditation the only documented words of Jesus as He was driven through the streets of Jerusalem. It’s a kind of conversation, because it is prompted by the wailing and lamentation He hears from the women in the throng that is following behind the criminals on their way to execution. Jesus responds by calling the women “daughters of Jerusalem.” That brings up so many images from the history of Israel, and the Scriptures.
Jesus is the Son of David, and Jerusalem is the City of David. The original meaning of the name of the city predates Joshua and the conquest, but in Hebrew, most probably thought their capital was the “teacher of peace.” The Essene sect, who may have influenced John the Baptist and his disciples, many of whom followed Jesus, considered the Jerusalem leaders corrupt and the Temple sacrifices worthless because of it. Jesus found His best reception in Galilee and even pagan territories, not Jerusalem, where the Romans and Herodians and Pharisees and Sadducees held sway. Only days before His Passover He had been the one lamenting over the city: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate.”
Jesus was clearly foreseeing that the intransigence and rebellious tendencies of the people of Israel would lead to desperate times and tragic conclusions. The use of the phrase “daughters of Jerusalem,” like “daughters of Zion” summons up memories of prophetic sayings like, “the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” Jesus tells His contemporaries, “behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Jesus was wholly innocent. He was guilty of no violation that deserved death by Roman law, so what will happen to those who became dry wood by their disbelief in their Messiah and by their treason against Rome? Fewer than forty years later the Zealots and others among the people of Israel will rebel, and the Romans will defeat them, burn down the Temple of Herod, and either kill or enslave the captive Jewish inhabitants.
Those of us who take time during Lent or Holy Week or any other day of the year to contemplate the selfless sacrifice of Jesus need to feel and lament as the women of Jerusalem did. But feeling sorry for Christ is mere sentimentality. What does Christ call us to do? First, personally, we should lament and ask forgiveness for our own personal sins, our lack of faith, hope and effective charity. Those are the nails that bound Christ to His cross. Second, we must lament and ask forgiveness for our society, our culture, that daily murders children in the womb, that celebrates and rewards people who pollute the sacrament of marriage, and that generally offends minute by minute human dignity and personal integrity. Our prayer must be united with that of Christ on the cross. We must ask, "forgive us, Lord, for we know not what we do."
