Pilate was ready to release Jesus (following a sound beating, of course), but the chief priests and the rulers and the people that he had called to give this news to all cried out to him to take Jesus away and release Barrabas. Barrabas was in prison for insurrection and murder, but the Romans by custom would release one prisoner on Passover. Pilate tried again to reason with them, as he wanted to release Jesus. But the shouting to crucify him began.

Jesus helped by Simon of Cyrene, part of a series depicting the stations of the Cross. Chapel Nosso Senhor dos Passos, Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Oil on canvas, XIXth century, unknown author. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pilate tried again, saying “Why? what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they grew more demanding, and eventually he released Barrabas and gave in to their demands. As they led Him to His fate, they got Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. (Cyrene is now an archeological site in present-day Lybia. It was a settlement of the Greeks, but became Roman Province in 74 B. C.). There was a great crowd of people following Him, and women who were weeping for Him. But Jesus then said to them:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Part of this, Jesus quotes from Zechariah 12:10-14, which speaks of mourning for “him whom they have pierced.” For the second time (the first being when He arrived at Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44), Jesus is foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem which will occur about 40 years from then. “They” in that last sentence means the Romans. The green wood represents the innocent savior, and the dry is what will be left of that Jerusalem generation after He is gone.

(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from Luke here
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from 2 Chronicles here

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.