Ninth Station Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem Luke 23: 27-31 Further along he sees women wailing, the same knot of paid mourners had been in the house of Jarius – to lament his dying daughter. He had evicted them, before going to where she lay and called her back to life. He cannot be fooled by their plastic tears, shed for those about to be crucified. He halts - looks down the tunnel of the years. “Don’t cry for me”, he gasps, “cry for yourselves daughters of Jerusalem, cry for your children, for the times I pity to see; when they will say, lucky are the women who never gave birth; when they will implore the hills to hide them in that time of war”. They look askance, how could it be, that he, a condemned wretch, should take pity on them? They do not understand who it is they see; they imagine they are doing him a favour, so will not see their tears as hypocrisy. He wants nothing to do with appearances. Jesus is not looking for sympathy; he is carrying a very real burden up this hill; he just wants to be received, he is carrying the sin of us all.