Eighth Station of the Cross
Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem
There are a series of pictures representing certain aspects in the Passion of Christ, and each one corresponds to a particular incident.
This series is known as The Way of the Cross and this page introduces the Eighth Station.
Eighth Station
He speaks to the women of Jerusalem
The Eighth Station is at a small latin cross carved on the wall of Saint Haralambos, a Greek Orthodox monastery. This is where Jesus met the weeping women.
Not all of the crowd were jeering; many of Jesus' followers were there and he could hear their wailing. Such audible expressions of grief are perhaps more common in the Middle East and Africa than the rest of the world, even today. Recall the popular Egyptian president Nasser, whose funeral took place three days after his heart attack in 1970. Five million people poured into the streets of Cairo, crying and wailing. Compare that with the street dancing of a New Orleans funeral. Cultures consider their own customs as normal as another's are bizarre.
The wailing made Jesus stop his journey. He turned to the women and said: "Do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:27). This made no sense to the women but Jesus could foresee the terrible future that awaited humanity.
In the midst of all Jesus was enduring, he showed concern for others. And he still has concern for us today, and proved this through his sacrifice.