Fellow-Redeemed in Christ Jesus,
The prophet Isaiah had foretold that the coming Savior though “afflicted and oppressed, yet did not open his mouth.” After the mob had taken Jesus prisoner, our Savior spoke very few times. Jesus did speak up when Pilate asked some direct questions about his person and work. When people hurled false accusations at him, or like Herod tried to goad him into proving his deity Jesus remained silent.
Jesus spoke once between the time they took him from Pilate’s judgment hall and he spoke his first word on the cross. We could miss the importance of Jesus’ words on the way to Calvary if we are not careful. His short discourse ends with the question of our theme, “If People Do These Things When The Tree Is Green, What will Happen When It Is Dry? What was done in the green tree, and, what will happen in the dry?
Jesus is the green, literally moist, tree. A green tree is alive and allowed to grow. You do not cut it down because it still bears fruit for food or shade for rest. Jesus had done only good during his life. Jesus in no way deserved the punishment his enemies inflicted. No one less than the governor pronounced Jesus innocent of all charges. Pilate’s wife warned about being unjust with “that innocent man.” One of the criminals recognized “this man has done nothing wrong.” Seven hundred years before this, the prophet Isaiah had written, “He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.”
Jesus was a green tree. Nevertheless, they led him out and nailed him to the cross, there to die a shameful death. A quite different crowd followed him along the Via Dolorosa than had accompanied him Palm Sunday. They had shouted for joy when Jesus entered the city. Now “A large company of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.” Jesus’ face and body were marred by blood from his crown of thorns and beatings just as Isaiah had envisioned.
The sight of Jesus’ torn flesh and all that blood elicited the women of Jerusalem’s sympathy. Jesus did not want their pity and tears. These were only natural emotions for anyone suffering so much. Even a mass murderer can have someone at his execution to shed a tear. Many unbelievers today feel sad when they read or hear the story of Jesus’ trial and punishment. At the same time, we Christians who love Jesus will also feel a natural sympathy toward him in his anguish and affliction; the bonds, and stripes, and wretchedness; the scourge and the rod; the spear and the nails that wounded him, and the thorns that crowned him.
However, looking upon Jesus’ Passion during these past weeks was not to evoke mere sympathy. The purpose is to realize this according to the hymn writer, “I also and my sin wrought thy deep affliction. This indeed the cause hath been of Thy crucifixion.” TLH 140:3 Jesus wanted the women weeping for him not to have tears of pity. He called them to repentance and warned them that without it, their tears would be more fitting for themselves and for their children.
Jesus had wept over the city when he had entered earlier in the week. Jerusalem had rejected the only one who came to save them from their sins. As a result, the city would suffer terrible punishment. Jesus was the green tree; Jerusalem with its unbelieving people was the dry tree. Soon God would cut them down and cast them into the fire of Roman siege engines, starvation, and crucifixions so numerous no wood remained for miles around the city. The loving Savior warned them of that terrible day when the women would think childlessness was a blessing, and they would try to hide from their oppressors.
The women did not heed Jesus’ call to repentance. They did not weep for their sins and confess them. By doing so, they echoed the cry many had made to Pilate earlier about Jesus, “His blood be on us and on our children.” That means, “Yes, we will take responsibility for Jesus’ death and with our children will bear the consequences.” It is not popular today to say that those who said that were Jews and they brought a curse down on themselves and their children. It is true. This was not all Jews, of course, because many Jews did believe in Jesus.
Those who cried crucify him, and the soldiers who beat Jesus and drove the spikes into his hands and feet are not the only ones responsible. Our sins and their guilt tore Jesus’ back and placed the crown of thorns on his head. Our sinfulness and daily rebellion against God’s holy will were the hammers that drove the spikes into his hands and feet.
We need to weep not for Jesus, not out of mere pity for his pain, but weep in repentance over our sins. We are by nature dry trees. If Jesus had to suffer so much for the sins of the world as the green tree, then you and I really deserve punishment because of our sins as dry trees; trees dead in our trespasses and sins.
What will the end be for all those who do not have new life in Christ through faith, who remain dry trees? Revelation tells us they will call on the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”[6:16]
Thank God we are no longer dry trees but green trees in Christ. We have his life through that great exchange that took place on his cross. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of Christ.” [2 Corinthians 5:21].
We thank God that these things were done in the green tree. Because the Lord Jesus did this for us, we no longer are dry trees. We will not have to weep for our sins at the time of judgment, nor vainly try to hide from our Judge. We share God’s Word with our children so they too may know their Savior.
We may weep over Jesus’ suffering but above all, we rejoice that he suffered for us. So we sing with our hearts even on this most sorrowful night, “Lord Jesus, we give thanks to Thee that Thou hast died to set us free; Made righteous through Thy precious blood, We now are reconciled to God.” Amen. <SDG>