“Don’t Cry For Me Jerusalem”
Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
Those who rejected and condemned Jesus showed that they preferred darkness to light. Those who cried for our Lord to be crucified revealed their inner darkness, their desperate need for pardon and transformation.
In our Scripture passage Luke shows Jesus being led through the streets of Jerusalem, along the route now known as the Via Dolorosa, “the sorrowful way”. He begins His death march outside the city to be crucified. We’re told in Hebrews 13, “Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, but the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates in order to make His people holy by shedding His own blood” (11-12, NLT). Jesus died, not as a martyr but as a substitute; He suffered for us—His death pays and removes the penalty for our sins.
It was customary for condemned criminals to carry either the cross or its crossbar to the place of execution. Jesus starts the walk to Golgotha carrying His cross but He has been weakened so by a lack of sleep and food and by the flagellation—a brutal whipping which normally preceded crucifixion and occasionally caused premature death,—that one of the Roman soldiers abruptly presses a passer-by to carry the cross (vs 26). Certainly no soldier would stoop to assist a struggling prisoner.
The person chosen is Simon of Cyrene, a town located near Tripoli in what is now Libya, North Africa, some 1300 km from Jerusalem. I visited this area with my parents in 1962; it is mostly a desert region, similar to Saudi Arabia. According to Jewish historian Josephus, there was a large Jewish community in Cyrene. Simon was a common Jewish name—there are 8 different Simons mentioned in the New Testament. This Simon likely was a prominent Jewish leader; the fact that he is able to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover festival indicates his importance. It would be in character for a Roman soldier to embarrass a prominent Jewish man with this demeaning task. There is no hint that Simon is a follower of Jesus, but he shares the journey. Taking the cross, he is covered by Jesus’ blood making him ceremonially unclean and unable to further participate in the Passover ceremony.
We say how Jesus’ blood saves us, covers our guilt, is the price paid for our forgiveness. Yet without faith in His sacrifice, even if His blood were literally placed upon us, we’d have no assurance of salvation. We don’t know if Simon of Cyrene was a believer. It would be tragically ironic if he died without the spiritual benefits of Christ’s blood.
In our Sunday School we’re memorizing John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life—no one comes to the Father but by Me.” If there were any other way to offer salvation God’s own Son would not have needed to suffer and die for us, to take our punishment. If there could be any other Way, then Christ died needlessly. People condemn themselves by rejecting sin’s Remedy. Scripture states that God does not wish for any to perish, yet people do perish by refusing God’s pardon.
Simon unknowingly enacts the definition of discipleship—to take up the cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarked that “When Jesus calls us, He bids us to die.” We die to self- interest when we turn to Christ. When we take up the cross we no longer have plans of our own.
I’ve been several times to Oberamergau in southern Bavaria, home of the famous Passion Play; I almost got to see it in 1990, but got orders. I toured the Festspielhaus where the play is performed by local actors. The cross carried by the one who plays Jesus is quite heavy, allowing the actor to feel the weight of the cross and gain a better appreciation of what Jesus had to hold up under.
In John’s Gospel we’re told, “Even in His own land and among His own people, Jesus was not accepted” (1:11, NLT). Now that the religious leaders have obtained their goal of arranging for the death of Jesus, the cries demanding His crucifixion have died away. They are replaced with open lamentation, tears of grief and sympathy (vs 27). Those who clamored for Jesus’ execution were not necessarily a significant number of people. There were still many in Jerusalem who were sympathetic to Jesus, and saddened by the course of events. Most scholars believe their sorrow was genuine, and Jesus treats them as sincere mourners. It was (and still is) common in the Middle East for people to openly and intensely express grief. There were no inhibitions or social restraints to “be strong.”
We see Jesus on the road to Golgotha not as a helpless victim overcome by events. He is no passive sacrifice in the grip of larger forces. He was born to suffer in our behalf, the Just for the unjust, the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” He is fully prepared to make this journey. But Jerusalem is ill-prepared for the coming judgment.
Pilate tried to persuade the angry mob to release Jesus, but they instead called for Barabbas, a vicious criminal, to be pardoned. If it had been Barabbas crucified that day, there would have been few people to mourn his passing. Most would have celebrated his death—good riddance. And there is no one weeping over the fate of the two thieves accompanying Jesus.
Jesus turns to the weeping mourners and says with compassion (vs 28), “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children.” The more tragic plight is theirs, not His. His startling words must have caught them off guard. He responds to their remorse by redirecting their attention to a more serious issue. Painful as His death will be, He knows that resurrection awaits Him. This warning is a final divine call to repentance. Jesus has no need for self-pity. He is fulfilling His destiny. The real issue moves beyond what Jesus will suffer to what His death will mean for those who reject Him. Jesus wants their repentance, not their sympathy! They are weeping too late; yet Jesus thinks not of Himself but of those who are lost and without hope. Jesus is not saying that it is wrong to mourn for Him, but He is looking ahead to 70 A.D., to the utter destruction of the city. This historical event is what one scholar calls “the inevitable consequence for the nation’s sins” (Leon Morris).
Our Lord then speaks as a prophet. Hard days lie ahead for the nation. He goes on to say to these weeping women that it would be better if they were childless (vs 29). Childbirth was regarded by Jewish families as a tremendous blessing and childlessness was seen as a disgrace, even a curse. Jesus, prophetically says that it will be fortunate to be barren. I’ve heard people say they’re afraid to bring children into this world with all the evil that surrounds us. Here on the road to the cross Jesus wishes barrenness on those who would experience dreadful suffering. It would be better not to be a mother than to be one during this impending time of unparalleled misery. However much they themselves will have to endure, they at least would not have to watch the suffering of their children as well. In the days ahead Rome will show no mercy. The Roman Army, fed up with the rebellion of the Jews, was about to take out their frustration and vengeance on the people. Their cruelty would be extended to women and children.
He continues (vs 30), prophesying that people will beg the mountains to fall on them and the hills to bury them. When the Roman army descends on Jerusalem, the citizens will cry for shelter and protection, or to be quickly put out of their misery.
Jesus concludes His prophetic warning with a proverb (vs 31), “For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” He is comparing His execution to Jerusalem’s destruction. If the Romans treat an innocent Man—one they know to be innocent—in such a manner, what will they do to the guilty? If the Romans are this cruel in a time of peace, what will they be like during a state of war? Dry wood burns more readily than green—and the conflagration of the Roman judgment upon Israel was horribly thorough. In what is called Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Luke 21), He spells out the awful misery and wrath that will come when the army of Rome devastates Israel. Those who witnessed our Lord’s crucifixion would also witness the catastrophic destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. The enemies of Israel destroyed the city stone by stone. Jesus weeps for the city, and has pity on them, even as He is being led to His death. At the moment when Jesus would be most justified to think only of Himself, He thinks of others.
These Daughters of Jerusalem could not see their Messiah as the suffering servant of Isaiah 55. The disciples couldn’t understand it either. The battle of the ages raged in front of them and they could not grasp it. Of all Jesus’ followers, it appears that only Mary and Martha understood that Jesus’ plan was to die for our sins. Although the road to Calvary appeared to be the end of hope, the purpose of Calvary was never in doubt. What appeared as tragic event was in fact the greatest Victory.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to bear the Cross—to turn our lives over to You completely. Thank You for saving us from death and destruction, for keeping us secure in Your grasp. It saddens us to know that our sins led You to suffer in our behalf. Our sins nailed You to the Cross. You died for us; help us to live for You—for Your glory, Amen.
