Christ Carrying the Cross | Smithsonian American Art Museum
Luke 23:27-31
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
About the Picture
Elijah Pierce, Christ Carrying the Cross, ca. 1972, carved, painted and varnished wood with glitter mounted on painted corrugated cardboard with paper collage, painted stones and glitter
Elijah Pierce described his carvings as sermons and used them to teach people about the Bible. This carving shows Christ with the cross just before he was crucified. Pierce filled the image with swirling colors and gesturing figures to evoke the crowds of people who witnessed Jesus’s crucifixion, although it is difficult to tell whether they are cheering or weeping over his impending death.
Interactive Map
On the outer wall of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Charalambos—near the German Hospice of St. John—a small Latin cross carved in stone can be seen, blackened by time and the smoke of candles sometimes lit at its base. Around it are engraved the letters “IC XC NIKA,” a Greek expression meaning: “Jesus Christ conquers.”
This simple sign marks the traditional place where Jesus met the women of Jerusalem who wept as they saw him pass on his way to Calvary.
