The final three stations

Station 13- Jesus is taken down from the cross- His suffering is over now. He is at peace. the chalice has passed. But only after it has been drained. his limp body rests on her lap. “Woman, how does this concern of your involve me?” he had asked at Cana (John 2:4). She had not been puzzled. Or deterred. No arguments. No altercation. “Do whatever he tells you” (John2:5). She is always there.

Station 14- Jesus is entombed-They bury him. He, for whom there had been no room at the inn (Luke 2:7). had to be buried in someone else’s tomb (Matt 27:60). Gethsemane of the bloody sweat. Jerusalem of the bloodthirsty condemnation. Golgotha of the bloodletting death. But this place? Not even a name.

Station 15- Jesus is risen-So many words ready to burst forth. Words of poets. Words of philosophers. Words of scientists. Words of musicians. Words of theologians. Words of artists. All waiting to be born. Words eager to give birt to the one immortal idea of all ages. And the only words that find life are so simple, so brief, so uncomplicated that many great minds have overlooked them: “He has risen!” (Mark 16:6). The Word is risen.

My thanks to the creativity of Rev. T. Ronald Haney for allowing me to share with you the true story of God’s compassion as we have shared together his version of the stations of the cross together over the last few days as we remember the great price that Jesus paid for our salvation. Tomorrow we will share the last words of Jesus from the cross as we meditate on the experience of that first Good Friday.

With thanks to the Rev T. Ronald Haney from his book The Stations of the Cross.

Stations 10-12

Station 10- Jesus is stripped-He has arrived. finally. Tortuously. they strip him. What is it about love that can be so intensely hated? “Play the prophet, which one struck you?” (Luke 22:64). That was it! In their simplistic ridicule they had unwittingly affirmed his role. he was indeed a prophet. he stands stripped. No heralding angles. no worshipping magi. No shining star.

Station 11- Jesus is crucified– They attack him with metallic savagery. the hammer. the nails. Condemned in his innocence, he is crucified in his love. they stretch him out. On the paten of the cross. “My hour has not yet come” (John2:4). his honour is not to be cheated. It is now. It is total sacrifice. An offering as intense as it is cosmic. The Word that spoke the universe is now the Word of consecration.

Station 12- Jesus dies- He hangs there on the cross. “Philip, he who sees me sees the Father” (John 14:9). The closeness. The intimacy. The oneness. “The Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10:15). “All that the Father has belongs to me ” (John 16:15). “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). “I can never be alone; the Father is with me ” (John 16:32). The union of purest mysticism. We are never alone. God is always God- with-us.

With thanks to the Rev T. Ronald Haney from his book The Stations of the Cross.

Stations 7-9

Station 7- Jesus falls for the second time-He falls again. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34). His perfection is his father’s will. Even if it means this humiliation. This degradation. The cosmic Lord plunging into the dust of this tiny particle of his vast creation. Barely able to concentrate. Pain. The crashing pain of universal sin scattered throughout every cell of his divinely sensitized body. Humiliation. Degradation.

Station 8- Jesus comforts the women- Weeping. Was it really? Some women. With their children. Weeping. he stopped. “There was following Jesus a great crowd of people and among them were some women who were bewailing and lamenting him” (Luke 23:27). Even in his agony, he would find words for others.

Station 9- Jesus Falls the third time- He falls again. Such a short distance from his last fall. Pain is now torture. This fall. It seems so final. “….all the kingdoms of the world…I will bestow on you if you prostrate yourself in homage before me” (Matt 4:8-9). He would not. he did not. He had his mission: His father’s kingdom,,,,of peace and unity, of justice and love. He lies there. His mission flashes before him.

With thanks to the Rev T. Ronald Haney from his book The Stations of the Cross.