Inspiration for Holy Week and Beyond

Only Luke's passion narrative contains this touching scene. We hear it every third Passion Sunday and the scene has been immortalized as the Eighth Station in the Way of the Cross, "Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem." In WITNESSES ON THE WAY, participants create and speak in character for each Station. Here is a sample from this Eighth Station, A Daughter of Jerusalem:

Tikva called out to me to hurry when she came running to my home. In the company of other women, we have begun the practice of intentionally witnessing executions under Roman rule. To comfort the dying is an act of mercy in Judaism so the Romans, though they scorn us, tolerate our presence. We know the comfort it gives to the condemned to see us and we also know that our presence indicts the injustice being done. So we do what we can.

Today, however, my mother-in-law had left for market and I had no one with whom I could leave my toddler son and I am still nursing my infant daughter. I hesitated but a moment and then bundled them both into my arms and followed Tikva to the road that led to Calvary.

There the other women told us it was the gentle healer, Jesus, who had been condemned. I prayed they were somehow wrong. They were not. We saw the crowd approach and began, as official mourners, to cry and wail above the noise. Suddenly silence fell over all. Jesus had stopped before us and turned to comfort the ones who'd come to comfort him. "Do not weep for me." The mouth of my infant daughter went slack at my breast as she turned toward Jesus, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. With my one free arm, I grabbed my son's hand as he began to pull away and reach out to Jesus. "Weep for your children."The tenderness of his gaze upon my children melted my mother-heart even as his words struck cold fear.

His words still rang in my ears as I tucked in my little ones that night. I blew out the lamp and sat in the dark, rocking back and forth, trying to ward off the horror I had seen and the dire prediction I had heard. Ever so slowly, my heart quieted and something began to stir inside me, a resolute assurance that the witness of women was powerful. Jesus had acknowledged that. I looked at my sleeping daughter and prayed that she would live to have a daughter who would have a daughter.

When I slept I dreamed of daughters, a long line of daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters. They were many and different--fair faces, dark faces, speaking languages I did not know, but they were all my daughter's daughters. Shoulder to shoulder they stood with babies in their arms and they did not turn their faces away from evil but evil turned from them. For they were strong and they were not alone. Jesus was with them

Because we are still called to witness...please remember that our "holy" week has been a time in the past when Jews have suffered at the hands of Christians. There is still much confusion and ignorance about passages that refer to the role of Jews during the Passion.

My years of teaching and love for the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly as told in the stories of women such as Esther, compels me to draw attention to this important problem. I recommend to you a thorough resource by our friend, Teresa Pirola, Catholic theologian writing from Australia. Please take a look at her offering, particularly if you are in a position of parish leadership or teaching.