And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
From Pilate's judgment hall toward Calvary He was followed by a great crowd after news of His condemnation spread through Jerusalem, drawing people of every class and rank. Disciples and believers from the city and the surrounding region joined the throng because His enemies had promised not to harm His followers if He Himself were surrendered, while He bore the cruel cross. That cross was the one prepared for Barabbas, laid on bruised and bleeding shoulders.
He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper, had agonized in Gethsemane, had been betrayed and deserted by His disciples, had been taken to Annas and Caiaphas and Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate, and had endured insult, mockery, and two scourgings through the night. A crown of cruel thorns pierced His temples and left blood upon His face, yet He bore Himself as a voluntary sacrifice until human nature could bear no more. He staggered and fell fainting beneath a burden too heavy for Him, and when it was laid on Him again He fell fainting again, weak and fainting as the hostile crowd hurried Him on amid shouts and jeers toward continued mockery and crucifixion.
The watching crowd showed no compassion for His weak and staggering steps but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross. Others in the same multitude wept, praised Him, spoke of His works in healing the sick and raising the dead, and asked why He was treated as a criminal and what crime deserved such treatment. Many in the crowd had praised Him with hosannas and palm branches only a few days earlier at His entry into Jerusalem and then joined the cry for His crucifixion, having praised Him when doing so was popular.
The lamenting women were the women of Jerusalem, the daughters of Jerusalem, who were undesignedly in that procession and whose hearts were stirred with pity so that they bewailed, lamented and wailed as He bore the cross. They are the same women who prepared spices before the Sabbath and came early on the first day of the week to anoint His body at the tomb. Because He clearly could not carry the cross farther, His persecutors sought someone else to bear the humiliating load, which the Jews themselves would not bear because defilement would keep them from the Passover and which none of the mob would stoop to bear.
Their bewailing happened as Christ approached the cross and descended into the depths of humiliation. His followers saw Him in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered in the hands of wicked men, heard His own nation clamoring for His blood, saw Herod and his soldiers plait the crown of thorns for His brow, saw Him clad in the purple robe with His persecutors bowing before Him and striking Him with the reed placed in His hand, saw Him whom they thought would take His place on David's throne scourged as the worst of criminals while the murderous Barabbas was chosen in place of their beloved Teacher, and saw Him lifted up on the cross dying as a malefactor. That sight marked the time when the Bridegroom was taken away and His followers could rightly mourn and fast, and it tried their faith and made their hope and courage fail in days of trial and temptation when the presence of the Comforter was not clearly discerned. The scene belongs to His suffering under the power of the Jewish priests and rulers who forced the Roman governor to do their will, and His endurance to the cross stands as an example of God's Word triumphing over human power used to support evil.
From Pilate's judgment hall toward Calvary He was followed by a great crowd after news of His condemnation spread through Jerusalem, drawing people of every class and rank. Disciples and believers from the city and the surrounding region joined the throng because His enemies had promised not to harm His followers if He Himself were surrendered, while He bore the cruel cross. That cross was the one prepared for Barabbas, laid on bruised and bleeding shoulders.
He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper, had agonized in Gethsemane, had been betrayed and deserted by His disciples, had been taken to Annas and Caiaphas and Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate, and had endured insult, mockery, and two scourgings through the night. A crown of cruel thorns pierced His temples and left blood upon His face, yet He bore Himself as a voluntary sacrifice until human nature could bear no more. He staggered and fell fainting beneath a burden too heavy for Him, and when it was laid on Him again He fell fainting again, weak and fainting as the hostile crowd hurried Him on amid shouts and jeers toward continued mockery and crucifixion.
The watching crowd showed no compassion for His weak and staggering steps but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry the heavy cross. Others in the same multitude wept, praised Him, spoke of His works in healing the sick and raising the dead, and asked why He was treated as a criminal and what crime deserved such treatment. Many in the crowd had praised Him with hosannas and palm branches only a few days earlier at His entry into Jerusalem and then joined the cry for His crucifixion, having praised Him when doing so was popular.
The lamenting women were the women of Jerusalem, the daughters of Jerusalem, who were undesignedly in that procession and whose hearts were stirred with pity so that they bewailed, lamented and wailed as He bore the cross. They are the same women who prepared spices before the Sabbath and came early on the first day of the week to anoint His body at the tomb. Because He clearly could not carry the cross farther, His persecutors sought someone else to bear the humiliating load, which the Jews themselves would not bear because defilement would keep them from the Passover and which none of the mob would stoop to bear.
Their bewailing happened as Christ approached the cross and descended into the depths of humiliation. His followers saw Him in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered in the hands of wicked men, heard His own nation clamoring for His blood, saw Herod and his soldiers plait the crown of thorns for His brow, saw Him clad in the purple robe with His persecutors bowing before Him and striking Him with the reed placed in His hand, saw Him whom they thought would take His place on David's throne scourged as the worst of criminals while the murderous Barabbas was chosen in place of their beloved Teacher, and saw Him lifted up on the cross dying as a malefactor. That sight marked the time when the Bridegroom was taken away and His followers could rightly mourn and fast, and it tried their faith and made their hope and courage fail in days of trial and temptation when the presence of the Comforter was not clearly discerned. The scene belongs to His suffering under the power of the Jewish priests and rulers who forced the Roman governor to do their will, and His endurance to the cross stands as an example of God's Word triumphing over human power used to support evil.