Green Wood
What will happen when the wood is dry?
As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" - Luke 23:26-31
Jesus is struggling to carry the cross and so the Romans grab Simon to carry it for him.
They can do that to anyone who is not a citizen, make them carry their weight for a mile. So, they get him to carry the cross for Jesus, giving Jesus a bit of a break.
It allows him to acknowledge the women weeping for him.
Perhaps they are asking themselves how the Romans could be doing this to their Lord. They understand what is happening, and Jesus acknowledges them for it.
He tells them not to weep for him, but weep for your children. They are the ones who will suffer. They will not want to raise up children of their own, for the world has become corrupt.
When the wood is dry, the tree is old and bears no fruit. It is to be cut down and burned.
But when it is green, it is young and growing. It has its whole life ahead of it. It will bear much fruit if it is allowed to continue to grow.
Their faith is this green tree, and it is being cut down while it is still young.
Do you think Jesus expected a different outcome?
He had told his disciples what was to happen, but maybe he expected something else?
Or maybe he was just disgusted. They were actually going to kill the son, thinking it would kill all the fruit of the harvest.
But they would be proven wrong. They would find the crop yielding much more fruit than they expected, even though the tree was cut down.
And these women are the ones who would keep it going. They would be the supporters who fuel the fire of faith and bring the message to life for many.
All it takes is a little bit of faith, and you can move mountains.
So, by Jesus talking to the women, he passed along a message for them to carry to others.
What the Romans are willing to do will not change the course of events. There will be a bountiful harvest, despite their actions.
And that is the message for us today.
We can continue forward because Jesus is with us and we will not be tossed aside like old dry wood.
More to come...