After His mistreatment by the Roman soldiers, the Lord Jesus was led out of the city to the place of execution, Golgotha.
On this way, “following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and grieving for Him” (Luke 23:27). Obviously, many were grieving the loss of an extraordinary rabbi who had healed many among the people and whose healing power they would now have to do without.
With one last announcement of the approaching judgment of God, the Lord Jesus turned to this crowd: “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28). They should have taken this exhortation seriously and repented. But they did not. Therefore, one day they will “begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” (v. 30). This cry of despair is repeated again in Revelation 6:16 and there stands in direct connection with the “wrath of the Lamb,” that is, the judgment that the Lord Himself will bring upon the unbelieving and rebellious world: “… for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17).
With His own death before His eyes, the Lord Jesus makes here a final appeal to the consciences of the Jews. In this way He still calls every person today to salvation from the impending judgment of God. And He not only promises salvation to the one who believes, but far more: He offers him a fulfilled life in following Him and a glorious future with Him in heavenly glory, unsurpassed by anything!
An interesting and impressive comparison concludes the last words addressed to the people: “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31). In contrast to dry wood, green wood still has “sap and strength.” Thus, the life of the Lord Jesus was indeed shaped by uninterrupted, strength-giving fellowship with the Father. With the “dry wood,” on the other hand, it is about Israel; this people honored God with their lips, “but their heart is far away from Me” (Matthew 15:8). With a few exceptions, there was no spiritual life present among the people. Isaiah had already prophesied this contrast between the Lord and Israel: “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1); and: “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground” (Isaiah 53:2). It was on this “shoot,” this person, that the Jews had now laid hands, in order to kill Him. If that happened under God’s permission, how terrible would the fate and judgment of the people be, who bore the responsibility for it?
On His final way out of the city of Jerusalem, the Savior did not go alone: “Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him” (Luke 23:32). Isaiah had foretold that too: “Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the wrongdoers” (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 22:37). He, who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38), was now walking the same path as those who, as criminals (note the contrast to: doing good!), were rightly headed toward their execution.
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