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I. WHY DID THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM WEEP?

1. He was innocent. All they had heard about Him was favourable.

2. He was benevolent. His gifts were uncommon and priceless. Wherever He went, He left behind Him the footprint of mercy.

3. He was the hope of the people. The glory had departed; the land was under a curse, and the people groaned under the Roman yoke. But Jesus, although opposed to every public demonstration in His favour, had, by His teaching and example, aroused the public aspiration.

II. WHY DID JESUS REFUSE THEIR SYMPATHY? — "Weep not for Me."

1. Weep not, My death is a necessity. It is not an accident, or the effect of unrestrained animosity, but the fulfilment of an old covenant, older than the earth or the heaven. Justice demands it before the prisoners of hope can come forth.

2. Weep not, I can bear it all. Hard as it may seem to bear the reproach as an evil-doer, and to suffer the enmity of those whom I have not offended, yet, my heart's desire is to suffer in the sinner's room.

3. Weep not, tears will avail nothing now. The plea of the tear is the most effective. Had the appeal of the tear been made before Pilate, humanly speaking, the evidence might have been taken, and the prisoner acquitted, but then it was too late. Weeping did not make the cross lighter, or the pains of death any the less.

4. Weep not, the course I am to take will ultimately wipe away all tears. The sorrow of to-day will be exchanged for peace and joy hereafter. The death on the cross will remove sorrow from the heart of the penitent, and tears will cease to flow.

III. WHICH, THEN, IS THE RIGHT CHANNEL OF TEARS? "Weep for yourselves and for your children." Sin is the cause of sorrow.

(The Weekly Pulpit.)

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KJV: And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

WEB: A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.