But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 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. Luke 23:28-29, NLT.
The time for Jesus’ execution arrived, and in this text, Jesus is beaten and suffering as he made his way to the site of crucifixion. Nearby were a huddle of women, people who had been with him throughout his ministry, people like family, and still not comprehending what was about to happen, in an ultimate sense.
You can imagine the weight of despair that they carried. The Messiah that they had placed all their hopes for the future on, now beaten and helpless, on his way to the cruelest Roman death. The carried two forms of mourning, one for the person they had grown to love for his character and vitality and the other for what he promised for the future.
So they mourn twice. They wonder what tomorrow will bring for them. They wonder what will become of them, the women, when they are absorbed back into their former lives. There is no way to assuage this indescribably grief. And because of their strength and courage, they will not leave his cross. They watched life slip away from him and the blood flow from his wounds.
Maybe they grieved a third time for themselves as well. Never had they been treated so well, as equals to men, as people with something to offer the world. Now they would be just women. Second class. Underappreciated. And no one had ever forgiven them for whatever failures they had. How would they carry the grief of failure again?
Jesus said that mourners would be comforted. I think because the God they serve is no stranger to mourning. God first mourned when humanity turned its back of the golden offer of life with God in the Garden. And God’s mourning never ceased after that, crowned with the tears of the cross. God, knows above all, what a mourner experiences.
The women would find God’s comfort in a resurrected Jesus. Hopes that had been dashed and replaced by mourning turned into comfort and joy. The Psalmist said that God keeps our tears in a bottle, as God did for the women. And for us.
Prayer:
O God, of tears. We know that you are no stranger to mourning, and there is no one like you who can bring healing comfort to us in our time of grief. So we pray for ourselves and for all in this dark world who are mourning in the pain the world brings. Please bring your comfort. In Jesus’ name. Amen.