Lenten Devotional - The Stations of the Cross
Modified from http://www.crivoice.org/stations.html;
originally created by Dennis Bratcher
History
The Stations of the Cross,
also called The Way of the Cross or Via Dolorosa, are a devotion to the passion
of Christ consisting of prayers and meditations on occurrences that were
experienced by Christ on His way to the crucifixion at Calvary on Good Friday.
The origins of the Stations go back to the
4th Century in Jerusalem Holy Land from all parts of the world to visit the land Jesus Holy Land in the 1300s. Countless Christian pilgrims have all
enriched their spiritual lives with this powerful devotion.
The stations, as we see them today placed
in sanctuaries, came about when it was no longer easy or even possible to visit
the holy sites. In the 1500's, villages all over Europe started creating "replicas" of the Way of the Cross, with
small shrines commemorating the places along the route in Jerusalem
Station 1: Pilate Condemns Jesus to Die
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?" But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. . . . So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." . . . and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. (Matt 27:11-14, 24, 26b)
Jesus, I wish you would speak! I wish you would proclaim who you are. I wish you would confront the disbelief of the crowds and the arrogant cowardice of the powers that be. Surely someone will speak up for you! Where are the lepers who were healed? Where are the blind who can now see? Where are all the people who ate the bread and fish on the hillside? Where are those who followed you so easily when they thought you would become King of the Jews? Yet no one speaks. No voice in the crowd comes to your defense. You stand alone.
You stand before Pilate, the power of
I have been alone. I have been falsely accused, and no one has spoken for me. I have been treated unfairly by those who could have used their power for better purposes. I can understand some of your feelings as you stand silently before Pilate and watch him proclaim his own innocence as he condemns an innocent man.
Jesus, I see in your silence the quiet strength that reveals a peace and a resolve. O Lord, help me deal with the unfairness of life without becoming critical of others. Help me to be sensitive to the pain and feelings of others. Give me the courage to do what is right without being swayed by the demands of others.
Station 2: Jesus Accepts His Cross
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31)
Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called
The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called
Jesus, I cringe at the pain of the thorns. But I am wounded far more deeply at the humiliation and disgrace you suffer. The Jews were seeking to have a Messiah, a Deliverer, a King in terms of political and military power. But you came to be the kind of King who would shepherd His people, to take responsibility for their care and well-being; a King who ruled by faithfulness, justice, and righteousness (Isa 11:3-4). And yet, the people are not ready for that kind of King. They reject You as their King.
I want to believe that I am ready to follow you, the King who offers a Kingdom of peace and love for one another. But am I really? Am I willing to yield my ideas of what the Kingdom should look like, only to assume the role of a bond-servant, a slave? Am I really so willing to give up my own preoccupation with power and control and accept a different kind of crown than I was expecting?
You accepted your cross without self-pity. O Lord, forgive me for forgetting that in my weakness, I must learn to trust you more. And that in that trust, my weakness becomes your strength. Forgive my attitudes of self-pity that make me more repulsive than loving. I do not ask for any cross to bear. But when those crosses come, (and I know they must), give me the strength to bear them as one who follows your example.
Station 3: Simon Helps Carry the Cross
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country,
to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the
father of Alexander and Rufus. (Mark
Jesus, I can only imagine the awful weight of that cross you carry. It is not just the weight of beams of wood that presses down on you. It is also the weight of the burden you carry for those whom you have loved. You came to offer them life, and yet they return only death.
So I see you fall from the crushing weight of pain and grief. I don’t
know how many times you have fallen. But I know that your physical
strength is failing. The soldiers must recognize this as well, because
they force a man from the crowd to help you carry the cross the rest of the way
to the place where you will be crucified. Perhaps they are afraid that
you will die before you make it to the top of the hill. The man of
I would like to think that if I had been there I would have rushed from the crowd and volunteered to carry that cross for you. But would I have had the courage to face the Roman soldiers and risk being forced to join you on a cross? Would I have really been so eager to share your cross if it meant that I might have to die on one as well? Would I have been willing to risk everything to ease your suffering for a few moments by letting you know that you were not alone?
Besides, I have my own crosses already. I have as much as I can bear
without taking on the added burdens of others. And what would people think of
me if I were seen consorting with criminals and enemies of
It is easy to pretend not to see the needs, the grief, and the suffering around me every day. It is easy to pretend not to hear the cries for help that come in many forms from those among whom I walk every day. It is easy to convince myself that I am too busy, or too tired, or have too much on my plate already to get involved in the lives of others. There are simply too many who need too much.
And yet I remember something that you said, something about taking up my own
cross and following you. You said something about becoming a servant of all, of
putting myself last and others first. Is this what it means to be a
servant? Jesus, are you showing me what it means to be that kind of
servant. Is this man from
O Lord, forgive me for becoming so preoccupied with myself that I have become deaf and blind to the grief and suffering of those around me. Forgive me for my indifference. Constantly remind me that I cannot love you without loving others as well. Help me always remember that to be a follower of yours means that I share in the burdens of others. Lord, show me someone whose cross I may help carry.
Station 4: Jesus Speaks to the Women
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?" (Luke 23:27-31)
Jesus, as you struggle along the road toward that awful place of death, you see a group of women among the crowd following you, already grieving at your impending death. You have heard this wailing many times before at funerals and tragic events. But now, they mourn for you.
You have always shown great compassion to women you have encountered throughout Your years of ministry. You have always seemed to understand the unique burdens that women bear in a world, in a culture that pushed them to the margins of society. So here, as you bear the most unimaginable pain of body and heart, you stop to speak to them. You are about to die, and yet you are more concerned with others than with your own suffering and death.
But your words are strange and seem out of place on this road of sorrow.
They have a prophetic ring to them. I know that you often spoke of repentance,
calling the people to turn from their wicked ways and accept the coming of the
And yet, no one thought the exile would happen. And here you are on the path of sorrow stumbling toward your death. No one thought that would happen either. Maybe you understand more than we have realized. Maybe you see something that we have refused to believe. Maybe we are not as righteous as we have thought. Maybe we have rejected repentance, not because we did not need it but because we needed it more than we dared admit.
Is that what you mean by these strange words? Is it possible that your death is only the beginning of things for which to weep? Is it possible that our refusal to repent and change the way we live is causing these beginnings of sorrow? It is, in fact, our own sin and our refusal to repent that is the real reason you are on this path?
I would like to think that I have repented, that I have confessed my sins and stand righteous before God. I would rather play the part of the righteous follower. I would rather weep for you, Jesus. I do not want to weep for myself and the pain I bring to others because of my failures and sin. Yet, how long has it been since I have shed tears for my own failures, for my own sins? Have I really been honest enough with God about who I am?
O Lord, forgive my unwillingness to repent, to confess all that I am before you. Help me go beyond the repentance mouthed in words of false piety, to sweep away all the facades of who I try so hard to be before others, and recall who I really am inside. Help me once again stand before God with a bare and open heart. Help me not just to repent in words, but to put that repentance into action in everything I am and do. O Lord, give me the gift of tears to weep for my own failures, for my sins, for the pain I bring to others, and to live the fruits of repentance.
Station 5: Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. (John 19:23-25a)
They even create a game of chance to determine who will earn Your tunic. But who could truly earn the right to wear Your clothes? Who was the soldier who won the right to be covered with the same fabric that once provided You with comfort, warmth, even modesty? Who was the "lucky" one? Did those soldiers ever come to realize the significance of the former owner of the garment they took home that day? They have no idea that one day, every artifact, and any piece of clothing attributed to this "condemned man" would be revered, esteemed, even studied for authentication because of You, the One who wore them.
You were stripped of everything. You were already stripped of Your position with the Father at the time of Your incarnation. And now, You are stripped of the dignity and the honor that only You deserve as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. You were even stripped of the last piece of respect and basic decency afforded to most humans.
Did they remove the clothes carefully from your whip-torn skin? Or did they quickly rip it off your back without any concern for Your pain or discomfort?
Would I have done anything differently, if I were there? Or would I have been so selfish and greedy that even your last physical possessions would be something I would exploit for my own gain? Have I used the opportunity to use You or Your reputation as something for my own gain? Forgive me for the times when I selfishly grasped after something good that came from You, and tried to use it only to satisfy my own greed. Forgive me for the times when I have stripped You of the of honor and dignity due to You, because my actions and words brought shame and humiliation to Your good Name.
Station 6: Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take
it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to
decide what each should take. It was
Lord, do not let me take for granted what happened to You on the cross. Do not let me forget that it really happened, in a real place, at a real time. It was there that You, the Lord of Glory, suffered and died for the sins of the world...and for my own sins. I yearn to experience the truth of Your death, Jesus, more profoundly.
I'm thankful for this visit to the Stations of the Cross that allow me to
approximate a pilgrimage to
Gracious Lord, how can I ever thank You for dying on the cross for me? Your death has given me life. Your sacrifice has led to my blessing. Yet I confess that I can sometimes take Your death for granted, forgetting what You did for me and neglecting its significance. Forgive me, Lord. And even though I can't go to the actual place of Your crucifixion today, may the reality of Your sacrifice press itself upon my mind and flood my heart.
All praise to You, merciful Lord, for Your cross!
FOR THE CROSS - by Matt Redman
I will love you for the cross. And I will love you for the cost
Man of sufferings, bringer of my peace
You came into a world of shame. And paid the price we could not pay
Death that brought me life, blood that brought me home
Death that brought me life, blood that brought me home
And I love you for the cross, I’m overwhelmed by the mystery
I love you for the cost, that Jesus you would do this for me
When you were broken, you were beaten
You were punished, I go free
When you were wounded and rejected
In your mercy, I am healed
Station 7: Jesus Cares for His Mother
And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25-27)
Lord, when you and your mom looked into each other's eyes, how
pierced-through her heart must have been! She must have remembered at that
moment the prophecy from Simeon "and a sword will pierce your own soul
too." Luke
When I think of Your mother, Lord, I remember that You weren't just the Son of God bearing the sins of the world. You were also the son of Mary, the son whom she loved. Mary gives us a touching reminder of Your humanity, Lord. Because You were truly human, because You truly suffered, You indeed bore the sins of the world, and mine as well. All praise be to You, Lord Jesus! Amen.
Station 8: Jesus Dies on the Cross
From
Merciful Lord, thank You for being The Righteous One. Thank You for Your perfect life and Your sacrificial death. Thank You for taking my sin upon Yourself, and giving me Your righteousness in return.
Like the centurion, I look upon Your cross today with wonder. But I'm not only struck by your complete innocence. I'm astounded by Your willingness to suffer and die for me, the Righteous One for the unrighteous. All praise be to You, glorious, gracious, giving Lord!
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. By Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.