Jesus Encounters the Women of Jerusalem
Luke 23:27-31
A great crowd of people followed him, including women who beat their breasts and lamented over him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. The days are coming when they will say, 'Happy are the sterile, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin saying to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' If they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?"
"A prophet is one who sees so clearly what is happening and being done in the present that they can tell us what will happen to us if we do not change now, immediately, turning from our present course. This has been Jesus' calling, and even as he draws near to facing his own death for his words of truth-telling, he still speaks to anyone he passes along the way. There is a weeping that is cathartic for the person who cries but is useless and allows the destruction on the cross to continue. In this case, no one moves to help Jesus or even stand with him. But there is another type of weeping and lamentation that leads to conversion, to the wowrk for justsice, the easing of pain and the giving of hope to those in desperate despair and need."
...excerpts from Megan McKenna's "New Stations of the Cross"
We weep, blessed Jesus, at the sight of your suffering. We weep for the world that places such minimal value on human lives. We weep for the wasted lives of hopeless, confused, frightened people who lose themselves in their own suffering, and who inflict suffering on others. We ask that you help us find ways to change our current path of suffering, to walk the way of the cross with you.
We lift up all the women who are in prison, heal the broken places in their hearts and shine the light of life upon them. We lift their children, protect and guide them, show them a new path out of destruction and into your community of faith.
We pray for Mary Helen Stewart and her children, Tiesha Bowden for guidance and strength, for Patricia Saxton, Rhonda McClure, and Latoya Greer and their families, for Jessie M. Rainey. We pray for all the women in Plane State Jail, in Richland Parish Detention Center, in Pewee Valley KCIW, Gadsden Correctional Facility, Indiana Women's Prison, TDCJ Woodman Unit, Lowell Corrections Institution, TDCJ Hobby Unit, CMCF in Pearl, MS, and women in prison around the world. Comfort them, heal them, renew and reconcile them to the world.
We lift our hearts to pray, empower us to raise our hands in service to the world. In Jesus we pray.
A great crowd of people followed him, including women who beat their breasts and lamented over him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. The days are coming when they will say, 'Happy are the sterile, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin saying to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' If they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?""A prophet is one who sees so clearly what is happening and being done in the present that they can tell us what will happen to us if we do not change now, immediately, turning from our present course. This has been Jesus' calling, and even as he draws near to facing his own death for his words of truth-telling, he still speaks to anyone he passes along the way. There is a weeping that is cathartic for the person who cries but is useless and allows the destruction on the cross to continue. In this case, no one moves to help Jesus or even stand with him. But there is another type of weeping and lamentation that leads to conversion, to the wowrk for justsice, the easing of pain and the giving of hope to those in desperate despair and need."
...excerpts from Megan McKenna's "New Stations of the Cross"We weep, blessed Jesus, at the sight of your suffering. We weep for the world that places such minimal value on human lives. We weep for the wasted lives of hopeless, confused, frightened people who lose themselves in their own suffering, and who inflict suffering on others. We ask that you help us find ways to change our current path of suffering, to walk the way of the cross with you.
We lift up all the women who are in prison, heal the broken places in their hearts and shine the light of life upon them. We lift their children, protect and guide them, show them a new path out of destruction and into your community of faith. We pray for Mary Helen Stewart and her children, Tiesha Bowden for guidance and strength, for Patricia Saxton, Rhonda McClure, and Latoya Greer and their families, for Jessie M. Rainey. We pray for all the women in Plane State Jail, in Richland Parish Detention Center, in Pewee Valley KCIW, Gadsden Correctional Facility, Indiana Women's Prison, TDCJ Woodman Unit, Lowell Corrections Institution, TDCJ Hobby Unit, CMCF in Pearl, MS, and women in prison around the world. Comfort them, heal them, renew and reconcile them to the world.
We lift our hearts to pray, empower us to raise our hands in service to the world. In Jesus we pray.
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