As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 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.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? ”
Luke 23:26-31
Then this message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, turn and face the south and speak out against it; prophesy against the brushlands of the Negev. Tell the southern wilderness, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Hear the word of the LORD! I will set you on fire, and every tree, both green and dry, will be burned. The terrible flames will not be quenched and will scorch everything from south to north. And everyone in the world will see that I, the LORD, have set this fire. It will not be put out.'”
Then I said, “Oh Sovereign LORD, they are saying of me, ‘He only talks in riddles!'”
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel and say to her: ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you.I will draw my sword from its scabbard and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. Then all people will know that I the LORD have drawn my sword from its scabbard; it will not return again.’
Ezekiel 20:45 – 21:5
Is it all clear now? Did you use the understanding of the Word of the Lord to Ezekiel in the context of Jesus words to the daughters of Jerusalem? Our own interpretations of green and dry don’t help us at all. Whenever we encounter difficult verses such as these we must use the Bible to interpret the Bible. Secondly we must read the Bible as a whole as I have been teaching you through the Gems and through Deeper Bible. Most of us don’t connect the meaning of “green” and “dry” in Luke 23 with the references to “green and dry” in Ezekiel 20. And if we do, most of us stop at the confusion which reigns in Ezekiel 20 and don’t continue reading into the next chapter where God Himself clears up the confusion. If we do read Ezekiel 21, we read it the next day in our Quiet Quiet and don’t connect it to what we read yesterday. If we connected the two chapters together we would see clearly God is giving Israel an explanation. Our next step is to see that Jesus is making a veiled reference (not a vail reference) to God’s warning for Israel in Ezekiel’s time.
Remember, Jesus has been pronounced innocent by Pilate, which also Herod Antipas concurred with. But the members of the Sanhedrin stirred up the crowd to demand Jesus’ death. So Pilate surrendered Jesus to the collective will of the Sanhedrin and the people. As Jesus carries His cross to Calvary he stumbles and needs Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross or the cross beam or upright for Him. This Righteous One who came to save the lost has His cross carried by one of the wicked. The women of Jerusalem follow Jesus mourning and weeping as they normally did. Either they are mourning as they usually did with the death of Jewish civilian at the hands of the Roman occupying forces or something else is happening. I suspect it is “something else”.
Luke has made the innocence of Jesus clear to us. Jesus statement to the “women of Jerusalem” is highly significant. It is clear that inference is buried within this quote from Ezekiel. The daughters and sons of Jerusalem are very familiar with the words Jesus has quoted. They know where the terms “green” and “dry” are linked together. Yes there are other points of comparison contained in the words “green” and “dry” as the examples I included in Gem 1259. What is interesting is Jesus reference to women and children in the light of invasion and destruction. The women and children by definition represent innocence. Just as women and children represent innocence so too does Jesus. He is innocence personified because He is the Righteousness of God. There is none more innocent than He. He has come to bring the way to gaining righteous with God for us. For Simon of Cyrene, for Caiaphas and all the members of the Sanhedrin. For Barabbas and for any other sinner. Jesus was and is the Saviour of the World. All the rest of us are sinners – wicked. “There is none righteous, no not one.”
It seems indeed the women are weeping for Jesus Himself. This innocent One who is being led to His death at the request of those He made. It is a travesty. All knew He was innocent and righteous. Jesus tells the women, “Don’t weep for Me. Rather weep for yourselves and for your children. If they do these things (this) to One who is Righteous what will happen to the wicked – I.e. those without the righteousness of God.” Jesus statement is literally amazing. Its scope is immense. Yes He is making a prophetic reference to the fall of Jerusalem which will happen in another 38 years in AD 70. That is, these inhabitants of Jerusalem will face the judgment of God in AD 70. The members of the Sanhedrin will likely be long since departed, especially so in the case of Caiaphas and the older religious leaders among the Sanhedrin. But Jesus is also saying to the women of Jerusalem, weep for yourselves and your children for judgement is coming on you “innocent ones” as well as the wicked, those who deserve it.
But you see all deserve judgement. Jesus has come to save mankind. He is indeed the Saviour of the world. It is only by His coming and the events that are happening now before their eyes that anyone will be saved. The only way any of us can be saved is by and through the grace of God. It is only in and through Jesus that we can know God and be recipients of His Righteousness. It is only by His righteousness that wicked people can be made righteous. This One who they have condemned to death is the means whereby they can know salvation. Now Caiaphas’ one liner (John 18:14) is hugely significant. Oh he didn’t mean it from Jesus perspective. What he meant was, it is expedient for one man to die in order to stabilize the peace of Jerusalem – especially this One who is giving us so much trouble and stirring up the people. But from Jesus’ perspective, it was indeed better that one man die for the people, because this Son of Man would usher in a whole new era, one predicted since time immemorial.
In summary then there is a basic level meaning to if they did this to One who is righteous what will be outcome for the wicked? But then there are a number of other deeper meanings considering this Righteous One will be the means of bringing in the Righteousness of God – Romans 3:21 and the following verses. Yes Jesus use of Ezekiel’s “green and dry” is a hugely significant statement. One which I trust is now a little clearer to you. Now even the “wicked” Simon of Cyrene has been made righteous.
Ponder the passage some more, there is more in it, but next Gem I will move on to the last two verses of this segment.
:32 Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with Him.
:33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed Him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on His right and one on His left.
Luke 23:32;33
Two more verses that are uniquely Luke’s.
We fear the consequences of confession because we’ve yet to experience the consequences of concealment.
Andy Stanley
There is more love in God’s heart than there is sin in yours. Always.
Max Lucado
To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion.
Max Lucado
The death of God’s Son is a greater testimony to God’s abhorrence of sin than if all humans had been damned forever.
John Piper