Weeping For Yourselves

“Weep for Yourselves”

(Luke 23:26-31)

Series: Certainty in Uncertain Times

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

 

• Take your Bibles and join me in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 23 (page 712; YouVersion).

While you are finding that we are glad that our team has returned from our church planting partnership in the Indianapolis area, Carmel Church in Carmel Indiana, Rodney Mileski and his family. Thanks for praying for this team! Check out the missions blog on our church website for more information.

We are in chapter 23 of Luke’s Gospel. In these later chapters we are studying the events surrounding the betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We have noted before how these events fulfill a very specific prophecy by the Prophet Isaiah who prophesied some 700 years before the events of Christ. Especially in Isaiah chapter 53 do we note these specific prophecies about the coming Christ, that He would someone “despised and rejected…a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” the one, “Smitten by God and afflicted…wounded for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities.”

Our children’s Sunday school classes studied this chapter sometime back and several of our children memorized these prophecies. I want you to watch Shane O’Nan as he shares from memory Isaiah 53, verses 3-12.

**Video Clip [Shane O’Nan; 1:50, recitation of Isaiah 53:3-12].

That’s a lot of Scripture! It’s a great prophecy 700 years before the events and we’ll be seeing in coming weeks the fulfillment of Christ’s being “numbered with the transgressors,” and, “bearing the sins of many.” You also heard Shane recite the part about Jesus’ being, “led as a lamb to the slaughter.” We are reading about that this morning as we pick up in verse 26, reading about Jesus being “led away” to His crucifixion, led away as a lamb to the slaughter.

It’s only a few hundred yards from where Jesus was sentenced by Pilate to Calvary’s Hill. If one were just casually walking along this path it would really only take a few minutes, but it will take Jesus much longer. It will take much longer because He has been subjected to cruel trials and beatings. It is very probable that He has been awake for the past 24 hours. He has just been severely beaten by way of Roman scourging, an intense beating that sometimes resulted in death itself, so a man condemned to crucifixion might die before he is ever crucified, dying by the Roman scourging. So Jesus has just been scourged and He is now making His way to the cross.

• Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word.

26 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

27 And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.

28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29 For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, “Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which 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 in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”

• Pray.

Introduction:

There is a strange and morbid curiosity within man that causes him to slow down and gaze upon events of death and destruction. We see it on the highway, a several car pile up causes traffic to slow down as passersby by “rubberneck,” trying to catch a glimpse of some tragic horror or other. Many of us crane our necks to see it and then wish we had never looked. The images are gripping and they stay with us for years.

There would have been some of that going on as Jesus made this journey along the street in Old Jerusalem, the path from His Roman scourging to Mount Calvary, a path in Latin called the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. Crowds of people had come out to watch the slaughter, to watch Jesus, along with two criminals, making their journey to Calvary’s Hill. And Luke records for us in these few verses a couple of images that burn into our memories. There are two encounters here in the text that Luke takes time to tell us about, one is a man named Simon who is forced to carry the cross of Jesus. The other is a small group of women who are weeping for Him.

Let’s take a closer look at these few verses and these two encounters and then I want to share a couple of necessary responses to what we have read.

26 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

Despite the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, Scripture never once records Jesus’s stumbling as He carries the cross. He may well have, but the Scriptures do not tell us so. They simply record that Jesus is led away and that on His way to His crucifixion, a certain man named Simon is forced to carry the cross of Christ. In fact, the phrase in my translation there in verse 26, “they laid hold of a certain man,” is probably better translated, “They seized a certain man.” The idea is that they grabbed this guy who was minding his own business, making his way into the city. They grabbed him and said to him something like, “You there! Pick up his cross and carry it!” It was not a request, it was a demand. Roman soldiers could do that kind of thing.

Now I don’t know whether this guy Simon was forced to carry the entire cross, a cross we think of in traditional terms, a cross with two pieces, or whether he was forced to carry only the crosspiece, the patibulum, as it is called in Latin, the heavy crosspiece that weighed as much as 100 pounds. It was probably this that Simon carried, but the point is that the Romans grabbed this guy Simon and, apparently in an effort to expedite things, barked at him the order to pick up the cross of Christ and follow behind Jesus as they all made their way to the hill.

This guy Simon verse 26 tells us was, “coming from the country,” which suggests he was coming into the city for Passover, most likely a Jew from a place called Cyrene. He is a “Cyrenian.” Cyrene is modern-day Libya in Northern Africa. So there is this Jewish community in Cyrene and Simon has left there and has come into the city, or at least he’s trying to come into the city, when he is told to pick up and carry the cross of Jesus.

Now that’s all we read about this brief encounter here, but Mark’s Gospel tells us a little more about Simon. Mark tells us that Simon is, “the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21).” Now think about that for a moment. Mark, in his Gospel, is writing primarily to a Roman audience. He is writing to Christians in Rome. He mentions Simon in the passage and then he says, in essence, “You know Simon. He’s the father of Alexander and Rufus.” Why would Mark identify Simon this way if he did not expect his audience to know who Alexander and Rufus were? So Mark is saying, “The Roman soldiers told Simon to pick up his cross and carry it, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.” One of the Christians in Rome may have said, “Alexander is Simon’s boy? Simon is Rufus’ daddy? Wow!”

You see it is almost certain that Simon came to know Christ personally either the day he carried Jesus’ cross or sometime afterwards because he is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and Mark takes time to tell his readers exactly which Simon he is talking about, the Simon they all knew whose boys were Alexander and Rufus.

In fact, Paul writing some years later in his letter to the Romans, closes out his letter with a number of greetings to the Christians in Rome and he says, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and greet his mother too because she has been like a mother to me (Romans 16:13).”

Following Christ is a decision that impacts your entire family. Sometime after picking up the cross of Jesus and carrying it behind Him, sometime that day or shortly after, Simon receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. His wife comes to know Christ and his two boys, Alexander and Rufus, come to know Christ and become leaders in the church at Rome. Following Christ is a decision that impacts your entire family. Men, you follow Christ and your family will almost certainly follow Him, too.

And think of God’s providence here! Simon is on his way into the city, no doubt stirred emotionally by the scene unfolding before him, a dark scene of cruelty and horror. Surely he is shocked and taken aback by this harsh command from a Roman soldier. Simon is grabbed and thrown toward the cross and told to pick it up an carry it. And yet, through these dark events, God is working out a perfect plan in the life of Simon and in the life of Simon’s family. Through what at first appears to be a senseless tragedy, God is at work in Simon’s life, working out a plan for Simon’s salvation and the salvation of his family. To quote William Cowper, author of the hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” Cowper writes, “behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.” God is in control. He is smiling. He loves Simon. He knows what He is doing.

Think about that application in your life! There are so many things that at first seem senseless to us. “Why did this happen, God? Why did You permit this darkness, this evil, this pain, this health condition, this job loss, this breakdown of a friendship, of a relationship? Why, God?” And all we can see is “a frowning providence.” Yet, hang in there. Joy comes in the morning. “Behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.” He is there. He is smiling because He loves you and He knows what He is doing.

27 And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.

So there are these women there who are weeping for Him and what does Jesus do?

28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

Jesus addresses these women as, “Daughters of Jerusalem,” that’s an Old Testament way of referring to the nation of Israel (cf. Zechariah 9:9, Micah 4:8, and Zephaniah 3:14). He says, “Don’t weep for me. Don’t weep for me, Jerusalem. Weep for yourselves, weep for your children.” Why does He say that?

29 For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, “Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’

That must have sounded strange. But within 40 years the siege of Jerusalem would begin under Roman Military Commander Titus, who would eventually become the Roman Emperor. The Romans would lay siege to the city of Jerusalem and years of famine and disease would follow. Hardest hit by the siege would be women, especially women who had small children. It would be such a terrible time, says Jesus, that people would not celebrate the birth of a baby, but rather celebrate the fact that a person had no children at all, thereby being spared the horror of an early death.

Jesus had weeped before for the city of Jerusalem. You will remember this back in Luke 19:41-44 where He first spoke of the coming destruction of the city of Jerusalem. He mentions it again in Luke 21:20-24. He had said there, “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people (Luke 21:23).” This is a horrible time when death will be preferable to life. That’s the point behind the phrase there in verse 30:

30 Then they will begin “to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’

This Old Testament imagery from Hosea 10 (cf Hosea 10:8) illustrates what that day will be like when Jerusalem falls in AD 70. People will prefer a quick death to years of suffering. It’s much like what will take place during the Great Tribulation in the end times. You can read about that in Revelation 6, another time when people will cry out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand (Revelation 6:16-17)?”

So Jesus says, “Don’t weep for Me, weep for yourselves. Within 40 years you will be facing a time of terrible judgment at the hand of the Romans. It will be so bad many will cry out to the mountains, “Fall on us and kill us, take us away from this suffering!” Then this enigmatic phrase in verse 21, Jesus says:

31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”

That’s one of those verses you come across in your daily Bible reading and you’re like, “Whatever that means!” and then you move on. But you know what it means intuitively, right? You know this isn’t a good thing. Jesus has just been talking about judgment and the Roman destruction of the city of Jerusalem and He says, “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” In other words, “You ladies are crying for me, but think about it: if the Romans are doing this now to Me, what will be done to you, what will be done to the city of Jerusalem?”

Put another way, “If this is how they burn green wood, just think how much greater will be the burning of that which is dry?” If you’ve ever picked up sticks to burn in a campfire, you look for dry sticks because the green ones don’t burn so well. So Jesus is saying, “If this is what the Romans do to the green wood, wood that isn’t ripe for judgment, think of how they will treat dry wood, wood that is absolutely ripe for judgment.”

And behind this Roman judgment is the judgment of God. So Robert Stein offers this helpful paraphrase, “If God has not spared His innocent Son from such tribulation (by permitting his crucifixion), how much worse will it be for a sinful nation when God unleashes his righteous wrath upon it (by permitting the Romans to destroy Jerusalem).”

So we come now to these two necessary responses for this morning and for your family discussion later. First, in light of what we have just read:

I. We Must Die to our Sin

Judgment awaited the city of Jerusalem. God will judge the city of Jerusalem for their refusal to repent and to trust God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Judgment awaits all who reject God’s Son. Judgment awaits all who reject God’s Son. We must turn from our sin, which means to repent. We must turn from our sin and turn to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I find it striking that these women are weeping and Jesus says, “Don’t weep for Me. Weep for yourselves.” Feeling sympathy for Jesus does not alone save. We can cry and cry and have and show great emotion and still lack repentance. We must believe Him as Lord and Savior. We must believe Jesus died in our place, bore our transgressions, died for our iniquities. Jesus says, “Don’t weep for Me, weep for yourselves. Judgment is coming. Don’t reject Me. Turn to Me.”

This is why feeling a certain way as we look at religious art does not alone save. Watching a film or a play about the passion of Christ does not alone save. Even if we feel great sympathy for Jesus we are not responding properly to the Gospel if all we do is weep for Him. If all we do is say, “What a terrible thing happened to Jesus when He was crucified,” and we fail to see that it is we who hammered the nails into His hands and feet, if we fail to see ourselves there at Calvary then we are weeping only for Jesus, feeling only sympathy for One who needs no sympathy, at all! He is God. He doesn’t need our sympathy. He doesn’t want our sympathy, He wants our souls.

“Don’t weep for Me, Jerusalem–Don’t weep for Me, Henderson–Weep for yourselves. Weep for your lost family members. Weep for your lost co-workers. Weep for the lost people in your community and across the world to the unreached people groups of the nations. Weep for your sin, cry over your sins and come to Me and trust Me and receive Me and My righteousness.”

The Jews in Jesus’ day did not trust in the righteousness of Christ, but they trusted in their own righteousness. They thought they could be morally acceptable in God’s sight by keeping the Law. That’s how some of you think. “I can be a good person. If I’m good enough, God will accept me.”

No! Weep for yourselves, repent, and come to Christ. Paul says in Philippians 3:9, “…not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”

That’s how we are saved from our sins and from the wrath to come. Judgment awaits all who reject God’s Son. I must die to my sin. I must confess, agree, that I am a sinner deserving nothing but judgment and the wrath to come. I come to a point where I believe Jesus died for my sin, took the punishment I deserved and I am weeping for myself, feeling conviction for my sin and turning to Christ as my Savior.

And when you die to your sin and trust Christ as Savior, you are saved forever. You are accepted by God forever. The choir sang earlier, “Wash in me in Your cleaning flow, now all I know, Your forgiveness and embrace.” He embraces us and because you did not deserve your salvation, you can do nothing to “un-deserve” it. Your salvation is, “by grace through faith in Christ alone.” What shall separate us from the love of God, asks Paul in Romans 8:39, “I am convinced that nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We must die to our Sin. Secondly:

II. We Must Die to our Self

I think one of the reasons Luke tells us about Simon in verse 26 is because of the power of this imagery. Here is Simon picking up the cross of Jesus and carrying it. Is this not a powerful emblem of what it means to follow Christ? We must die to our self. Picking up the cross of Christ and carrying it daily is a picture of the Christian life.

Jesus had said in Luke 9:23-24:

23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

We must die to our self. Jesus asks, “ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost (Luke 9:25)?”

He said in Luke 14:27, “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Bearing the cross of Christ and following Him means we love Him more than anyone or anything else, more than we love even our own lives.

Simon’s actions here in the historical realm portray vividly what is true in the spiritual realm. We must pick up our cross and “bear it after Jesus.” We must die to our self.

That’s what the cross means. We die. We die to our self. We die to our self-interests, our self-centeredness, and our self-assuredness.

This is why the symbol of Christianity is a cross, because Christianity requires that wed die. The symbol of Christianity is not a bumper sticker, or a style of dress, or a particular Bible translation, or a particular church we attend.

We are not Christians because we have a fish on the bumpers of our cars or because we listen to K-LOVE on the radio. We are not Christians because we read books and download Christian podcasts. We are not Christians because we post words of Christ on Twitter or Facebook.

We are Christians when we take up and carry the cross, “the emblem of suffering and shame.” And we “cling to that old rugged cross” more than we cling to anyone or anything.

• Stand for prayer.

Judgment awaits all who reject God’s Son.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, “…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Grant us wisdom in these moments to die to our sins and die to our selves.

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