Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes Jesus’ Face with a Cloth
The Gospels say nothing about a woman named Veronica actually wiping Jesus’ face. The Gospel of Luke, however, does cite a small group of people following Jesus as he was marched toward his crucifixion. Women were a part of this group, if not the entire composition of it! These women were beating their breasts and wailing for him, says Luke. I’m sure this would be so. Jesus was adored, after all, by many, many women.
Jesus had enough time to turn to these women, and, according to Luke, say, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” Read More »
Seventh Station: Jesus Falls a Second Time
Jesus falls, a second time. The event is not recorded in the gospels, but it is not difficult to imagine. Jesus probably fell a dozen or more times, given his mental and physical condition.
I wonder what flashbacks were playing in Jesus’ mind at this point? I’m sure he, as most of us do, was rewinding to where he had been, and cognitively screening his own home movies. Read More »
Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to Jerusalem Women
ASV Luke 23:26-31: 26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Women stayed with Jesus until the very end. Perhaps, in him, they saw their freedom, or equality? Perhaps they invested their personal worth in the kingdom to which he pointed? Read More »
Ninth Station: Jesus’ Third Fall
One fall is … a fall. A fall is just a fall, usually. A second fall is a sure sign of repetitive stumbling. Yes, a bit of vertigo may be the trouble. A third fall is, however, no fall at all. It is a continuation; a small, isolated look at a much larger and combined chain of events. Yes, a third fall is but one small frame of a moving picture composed of many, many similar shots. Jesus did not fall once, twice, or three times. No, Jesus bounced, rolled, scraped, and crawled his way - the entire way - toward Glogatha, aka “The Place of the Skull.” Read More »
Tenth Station: Jesus Is Stripped
ASV Matthew 27:27-36: 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. 32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Glogatha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.
Roman crucifixion was designed to be as humiliating as it was painful. Yes, torture and capital punishment are fused. Why? Well, to send a message to all those would be subversives, of course. Read More »
Eleventh Station: Jesus Is Crucified
ASV Mark 15:24-32: 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. Read More »
Twelfth Station: Jesus’ Death on the Cross.
ASV Mark 15:33-37: 33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
Jesus of Nazareth died at noon. There, on that cross, Jesus died, but victoriously so. Yes. Victoriously! Read More »
Thirteenth Station: Jesus Taken Down
ASV: John 19: 31-38: 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Read More »
Fourteenth Station: Jesus Entombed
ASV: John 19: 39-42: 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. Read More »
Church Planting Assessment Day!
Today is church planting assessment day! The kids are going to hang out with Grandpa all day (read: get spoiled). My wife and I are road-trippin’ East to meet up with the assessment interviewer. It’ll be an all day thing, for sure. I’ll have more to say on church planting later - much later - this evening! UPDATE: The church planting assessment went great! I learned a lot about myself, as did my wife. We both learned a little bit more about one another too! It was a good assessment. Now … I sleep. ZZZ …
