The Weeping Women ~Luke 23: 28-31~

One of the big events I had in my journey walking in Christ happened when I was 11. I still have it kept safely at the back of my head, crafted neatly in my heart. It was Lent season. My Sunday School friends and I were having our little role play on the Way of the Cross. We practised for a few weeks and I was one of the weeping women who followed Him to the Golgotha. Given that role in such a young age, I never really go in depth of the character I was supposed to be.

Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ 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: 28-31~

  

The women in the Bible continued following Him with loud weeping. But Jesus turned to them and said:

 "Do not cry for me."

"Cry for yourselves. Your children."

"There will be times when the tears you shed will be real tears. Save your tears for those times."

He didn't want to be pitied. He didn't look for sympathy. The fame. Even when He was about to die, He deal with the reality. He was tempted once, being offered with false glory when the Satan suggested that He jumped from the top of the cliff, not suffering injuries, and be called a living miracle. But He refused fame in that way then, and He refused the fame of false tears now.

As I reflected, the role given to me was not just a mere character. It was a question. Am I sincere? Do I weep over injustice just in order to be seen? For what will the tears be for? Will I weep for those who hurt?  Will I weep for myself? Will the tears I shed be a real tears?

"Jesus, I am moved to tears at the thought of you taking my sins up that hard hill to Golgotha. I want these to be tears of sorrow for my sins, not tears that draw attention to my non-existant goodness. Forgive me when I weep out loud for no good purpose. You show us the seriousness of our responsibility. Grant that we may not simply walk , with nothing to offer other than compassionate words. Grant that in the end we will not be dry wood, but living branches in You, the true vine, bearing fruit for eternal life. In Your name I've prayed. Amen."

"Do not weep for me."