Station 8: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

There are popular shows and movies I just can’t watch due to violence, especially sexual violence. Maybe it’s because I’m visual, but I never “unsee” things and watching someone being victimized, even in a dramatization, will haunt me forever. Other people seem to be desensitized to these things in movies, TV or games, but I am not. Seeing another human suffering under a brutal force should shake us to the core of our human hearts…it goes against our innate desire for life.

Maybe that was what fueled the cries of the women of Jerusalem as Jesus passed by. Or maybe they were desensitized, just crying out because that’s what women were expected to do in these situations. I can read it both ways (Luke 23:28-31). In either case, Jesus doesn’t indulge their tears with self-pity. He’s not the victim here. He chose this path to fulfill his Father’s purpose. One can endure all kinds of suffering when there is a purpose. Instead he says, “Don’t cry for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.”

The world has many ways to break a woman’s heart. It has always objectified and victimized women and children in both obvious and insidious ways; it has always tried to regulate life through control of women. The repercussions of shame and judgement that come with that are part of the reason he has undertaken this rough road. He says to us women, do not weep for me. Instead, he walks with us in our tears, hoping we will follow his way. 

Color is symbolic in each of my Stations pieces: Red = Points of pain; White = Movement of the Holy Spirit; Blue = God’s presence; Black = the weight of the cross; Neutrals = Humanity.