STATION 8: JESUS CONSOLES THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
— Luke 23:27-31 (New Living Translation)

Station 8

The traditional name for this station, where Jesus speaks to the grieving women who followed this crucifixion processional, seems to be misnamed: Jesus “consoles” the women of Jerusalem. The words he offers them do not seem to be consoling. They seem, instead, to be affirming their grief, and confirming their fears.

Jesus tells them not to weep for him and for what he is about to endure, but to weep for themselves and for all that they would endure. The Jerusalem of Jesus’ time was just as fractious and divided as it is today, with differing factions vying for power and influence, all seeking to push each other down or, at minimum, out of the way.

In Jesus’ time, this was especially difficult for the women, who usually had very little power or influence, even within their own communities. They watched their children being oppressed by the Roman occupying army, and could do nothing. They witnessed their young men being forced to fight in battles. They were powerless as loved ones were imprisoned.

Jesus acknowledges their pain, even as they grieve for his. And he gives them a gift: he releases them from their tears for him, knowing that they will have their own heavy burdens to carry.

Let us pray.

Gracious God,

We pray for women everywhere who this day feel powerless in the face of oppression, violence, and cruelty.

We pray for those who have lost loved ones — spouses, lovers, children, friends — to war, to illness, to addiction, to violence.

We pray for the women living in the uncertainty of Jerusalem today: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs, Israelis, Armenians, and all others within its ancient walls. We pray for peace for Jerusalem. We pray for peace for our troubled world.

We finish this station by praying in silence, that you would open our spirits to you this day.