A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth: The Savior Lamented

Midweek Homily No. 5

March 16, 2016

A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth

The Savior Lamented

Adapted from Adolph Hoenecke

Luke 23:27-31

New American Standard Bible

27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.

28 But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 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 nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

It was Palm Sunday in reverse. A large crowd followed Jesus, but there were no branches or coats laid before Him. No one was shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” He wasn't riding on a donkey; rather, He was the beast of burden, carrying His own cross. And He was a brutal mess.

Pilate had cried out, “Behold the man!” Jesus was a man of dripping blood and torn flesh under a crown of thorns. He was so empty of strength that He couldn't even carry His own cross.

This is the man that the people followed. Some came to mock Him on His way as He hung on the cross. Others who followed were silent and did not come to mock. If not for the soldiers and the mob of haters, they may have cried out. But they were cowards like Peter—they were afraid of the opinion of their fellow man.

Then there were the women. They wept openly and loudly. They saw a poor brutalized man and were filled with sadness. If not for Jesus' response to their tears, we would have assumed that their tears had brought Him some comfort. “At least somebody cares,” we might imagine Him thinking.

But He used His strength to turn around and say,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:28)

He rejected their tears. He didn't want their laments. He rebuked their sadness because it didn't come from repentance.

Ten years ago the film The Passion of the Christ was released. It received a great deal of reaction from moviegoers and critics. Many believers and unbelievers alike who watched the movie were moved to tears because of the physical suffering of Jesus that was depicted. Tears that flow when faced with someone else's physical pain are natural, but these tears on the way to Golgotha didn't flow from faith in His cross.

Jesus instead called on these women to weep tears from themselves and for their children. He wished them to confess their sins and weep over them, and so seek out the One who sends sin away.

Think about how quick you might be to weep over the pain and suffering of those whose lives are upended by a tornado. But consider how seldom we weep over our sins. And often the times we have wept over our sins are really because we have been caught in one of them.

Yes, our tears run deep into this world. This is our sinful flesh, that Christ calls on us to crucify and deny. He is the green tree who brings life to His faithful followers, who weep tears of sorrow over our sinfulness and tears of joy for the Savior who went forth like a Lamb.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21