Lent 2025 Day 32: Thu 10 Apr
Luke 23:26-34
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, “Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!” 30 Then
‘“they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’
and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’”
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?’
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
I have come across this passage many times, and never before had I paid much attention to the words “if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry”. What I find even more fascinating is how an interpretation of these words might come to me quite naturally, only to discover that most other people who have written about them came to a completely different conclusion!
Everybody I could find with a quick search seems to agree that what Jesus is doing here is comparing himself as the innocent victim (Revelation 13:8) with the evildoers (“If an innocent person suffers thus, what will become of the wicked? Of those who are as ready for destruction as dry wood for the fire?”, John Wesley). To me, on the other hand, this sits with the warning for the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem: if misguided beliefs about what God is doing led to this in peacetime, what will they do at a time of upheaval? Or, on a more individual level, if the Powers treat the Messiah thus, how much more will they persecute his followers? The closest I can comfortably get to Wesley’s comments is this: if the crowd has no regard for the sinless, how much worse will they treat the guilty?
Of course, the beauty of Scripture being a living, breathing thing when approached with faith and a heart open to God, is that I don’t have to be wrong for the others to be right! At different times, to different people, the words of Jesus speak differently, but when they truly speak the end is the same: to point us towards his Father and the Kingdom.
Lord, may we always meditate on Scripture with an open heart, listening out for the promptings of Your Spirit, and finding Christ in all things.
2:13:26 Der du den Tempel (Chor)
58b. Chorus I & II You who destroy the temple of God and build it up again in three days, help yourself! If you are the Son of God, climb down from the Cross!
58c. Evangelist In the same way the high priests also mocked him, together with the scribes and the elders, saying:
58d. Chorus I & II He has helped others and he cannot help himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him climb down now from the Cross, and we will believe in him. He has trusted in God to rescue him now; he lied, because he said: “I am the Son of God.”
58e. Evangelist In the same way he was reviled by the murderers who were crucified with him.
Ends at 2:15:06
Paul