As I said when I led the Stations last night at St Hilda's, I once paid an awful lot of money to see a singer whom I liked and when I got to the concert, he was not half as good as he was on the CDs which I had bought. Unimportant though this is to anybody, it shows a sense of disappointment which I felt in experiencing something which was not as good as I had expected. These women we see at this station would have experienced something similar, what they were seeing was not what they really wanted, nor what they really expected. The Jewish people were expecting a warmongering, mighty king, who would smite their enemies and lead the chosen people into the promised land once more. What they got was a misfit who wandered around the villages, appealing to some, unappealing to others, who made claims so wild in the end, he had to go one way or the other. Maybe these women were hoping that, here at the end, he might just fulfill what they believed to be his destiny. Maybe they looked on, hearts yearning for their last possible chance of happiness.
Of course, Jesus did fulfil what was expected of Him. He led His people to the promised land and freed them from all their sins, just they did not realise it at the time because he did not do it in the way in which they expected him to. How often do we say 'if only so and so would listen' or 'if only so and so could really see!' when something seems obvious to us, but we often forget that to somebody else what we are doing can come as a let down, when we think that we are doing the best thing. These holy women are a reminder to us to always meditate on our actions and their implications on others, lest our lives be fringed by groups of disenfranchised people.
V. Go forth ye daughters of Sion and behold King Solomon with the crown.
R. Wherewith his mother hath crowned Him.
Let us Pray.
O God who chooseth to show mercy rather than wrath to them that put their trust in thee : grant to us so worthily to mourn the evil which we have committed; that we may be found worthy to obtain thy gracious comfort; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Of your charity, pray for the soul of Margaret Sykes.
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