Categories: god, forty-blogs-of-lent
Date: 21 March 2013 02:56:20
A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time, people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!' and to the hills, ‘Cover us!' for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?" Luke 23: 27-31What starts out as a time of mourning, and who wouldn't be upset when someone you have admired and followed is about to be executed, turns into something different. I understand the reaction of the women of Jerusalem. It is a natural reaction, even if the crying is loud. You can imagine it being very dramatic if Jesus stops to say something on the way to execution. But that's where I can't understand what's going on. Instead if being sympathetic Jesus gets all apocalyptic. This talk of wombs and breasts is not what you'd expect. If I understand this apocalyptic passage properly then I think Jesus is saying that this is not the end, the end is yet to come. That it is not he who is judged, but that he is the judge of the world. That's if I understand the meaning of these words, and I'm not sure you do.