Stations of The Cross - Ninth Station

Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

                          Luke 23: 27-31

Further along he sees women wailing,

The same knot of paid mourners had been in

The house of Jarius – to lament his dying

Daughter. He had evicted them, before going

To where she lay and called her back to life.

He cannot be fooled by their plastic tears,

Shed for those about to be crucified.

He halts, looks down the tunnel of the years.

“Don’t cry for me”, he gasps, “cry for yourselves

Daughters of Jerusalem, cry for your

Children, for the times I pity to see.

When they will say, lucky are the women

Who never gave birth when they will implore

The hills to hide them in that time of war”.

They look askance, how could it be, that he,

A condemned wretch, should take pity on them?

They do not understand who it is they see.

They imagine they are doing him a favour,

So will not see their tears as hypocrisy.

He wants nothing to do with appearances.

Jesus is not looking for sympathy.

He is carrying a very real burden

Up this hill. He just wants to be received,

He is carrying the sin of all.

Image  from Wikimedia Commons

    © D G Moody 2023