Don't cry for me - Station 8

A lot of times we tend to focus so much on the relationship that Jesus had with his disciples, that we forget about the fact that Jesus had a major fan base of women.  If Facebook were around in the first century, it may be safe to assume that the majority of people that would "like" or follow Jesus would have been women.  Women often ministered to and with Jesus.  Jesus openly spoke about theology to women, and even entertained a woman at the well, who had five previous husbands and was living with a man to whom she was not married.  To take it a little further, he asked the same woman at the well, who was a both a Samarian and ceremonially uncleaned for a drink of water.  Women were the apostles to the apostles, they were the first to see the resurrected Jesus. 

In the first century, women, especially the widows and poor were deeply marginalized.  They had no one to care for them nor claim to anyone's inheritance for survival.  Through Jesus' interactions with women, we see a man who is bold enough to counteract the societal norms of his times, while embracing radical feminism.  So then, it is no wonder that on the road to Golgatha, the women would be weeping and wailing without consolation.  If we were to take a roll call of the women who were there, I wonder who would be present and accounted for.  Would we see Mary and Martha?  How about the Syrophoenician woman?  What about the Samarian woman at the well and Mary Magdalene?  What about the Jairus' daughter, whom Jesus resurrected and the unnamed woman with the issue of blood who touched Jesus' garment and was healed?

I imagine that all the women following Jesus' execution procession had been touched by him in some meaningful way.  Some of these women had been cast out and cut off from society, banished from public worship and narrowly escaped being stoned.  It is no wonder that these women would be weeping for a man who looked beyond their status as women, but regarded them as equal children of God.  With pain in his eyes, Jesus told the daughters of Jerusalem, "Don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children."  At this point, Jesus did not want pity or sympathy, he simply wanted redemption for all and the fulfillment of God's will.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus crucified, help us to be moved beyond tears with compassion to minister to those who, in the eyes of society have no hope.  Help us to be bold in our witness, as you ministered to the women, and all those deemed in the eyes of society as the least of these.  Amen.

Faithfully,
Karr