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As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. \xa0A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, \u201cDaughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. \xa0For the time will come when you will say, \u2018Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!\u2019 Then \u201c\u2018they will say to the mountains, \u201cFall on us!\u201d and to the hills, \u201cCover us!\u201d\u2019 \xa0For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?\u201d (Luke 23:26-31)

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As it turns out: not all the crowds of Jerusalem shouted \u201ccrucify!\u201d\xa0 And not all the disciples fled.\xa0

In fact, this is perhaps the panicle of discipleship in Luke\u2019s Gospel.\xa0 Simon of Cyrene, a city in Northern Africa around modern-day Libya, does precisely what Jesus has called all disciples to do: he takes up the cross and follows Jesus to his death.\xa0 Luke means for us to see the picture.

Similarly, while all of his male companions among the 12 may have fled, betrayed, or disowned him, the women who had followed Jesus all along, followed him still.\xa0 All the way to the cross.\xa0 They would also be the first to witness the empty tomb.\xa0

It is women who faithfully bear witness to these central moments of our faith.\xa0 While Simon may have been \u201cseized\u201d and \u201cmade\u201d to carry the cross, the women follow willingly.\xa0 They are no strangers to suffering, and they do not turn away from Jesus\u2019 moment of pain, humility, and loss.\xa0 Instead, they bear it with him\u2014humbling themselves to grieve with him in a strength of emotional maturity the male disciples could not muster.\xa0

Do I make too much of this point?\xa0 I don\u2019t think so.\xa0 Luke and the other gospel writers point out consistently that it was the women, also a few men, but mostly the women who were present in Jesus\u2019 greatest hour of need.\xa0

Peter had boasted: \u201cLord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!\u201d\xa0 But when it got hard, Peter disowned his Lord and fled.\xa0 Not so with the women.\xa0

When it came right down to it: the women were the disciples who were ready to face death.\xa0 They were the ones willing to face down and witness the brutally agonizing moments of Jesus slowing dying on the cross.\xa0 They were willing to accompany his body to the tomb with Joseph of Arimathea.\xa0 They were willing to face his dead body again on the third day to offer it the dignity of a proper burial.\xa0

Had the women not been consistent witnesses of all these central moments of our faith, would we have known today what happened there on the cross?\xa0 Would there have been sufficient witness to the event to prove that he had really died, and that his body really was buried rather than stolen away?\xa0 And what about the resurrection?\xa0 If the women hadn\u2019t gone to the tomb, would anyone else have?\xa0

The women were the first witnesses and preachers of the gospel.\xa0 They were also the first to live it.\xa0 The first to face Jesus\u2019s death and cross.\xa0 The first to receive word of his life.\xa0 Will you join them as you take up your own cross and face down your own death in the death of Jesus?\xa0 Will you stay with them long enough to die to yourself through the grief and pain of repentance and so find new life in Christ on the other side?

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