Stations of the Cross
During Lent through Easter Sunday, we invite you to engage “Stations in the Street” by Scott Erickson for reflection. Walk and pray through the stations of the cross on the trail between the south pond trail and the arbor overlook.
These stations are a cross-section of elements, ideas, and objects from Jesus’ journey to the cross.
The good news of this Lent season was expressed best by Jesus when He said…“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Enter into the bright sadness of the Lenten season.
See below for brief meditations to guide your walk.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
VERSES & MEDITATION PROMPTS
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Notice.
What do you feel? Where do you feel it in your body?
Does the feeling or awareness bring a memory to you?
What are you surprised by?
What are you led to give space to?
Are you aware of a longing?
What can you thank God for?
What do you want to ask him?
How can you praise him for what you recognize in this time?
Have you become conscious of a way you are not faithful to God’s ways? Acknowledge this understanding and ask God to not let you go in this.
If there is a phrase or word that stays with you, set aside time to use that word/phrase in contemplation. Use that word/phrase mentally or vocally as any other thought comes to your mind and allow it to center your disposition and focus.
JESUS IS TEMPTED – Matthew 26: 36-46 (NLT)
Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
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Jesus is compelled to desperate prayer.
Think of Jesus’ complete honesty in prayer.
Jesus calls together his friends in his most desperate time of prayer.
What drives you to such a desperate time of prayer?
JESUS IS BETRAYED – Mark 9:31 (NLT)
For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.
Matthew 26:14-16 (CEV) Judas Iscariot[a] was one of the twelve disciples. He went to the chief priests and asked, “How much will you give me if I help you arrest Jesus?” They paid Judas 30 silver coins, and from then on he started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus.
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The son of God was betrayed by a friend. The son of God was betrayed by his creation.
JESUS IS CONDEMNED – John 19:14-16 (NLT)
It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”
“Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!”
“What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.
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Jesus submits quietly and peacefully.
Jesus is condemned by religious leaders. What was their fear?
JESUS IS MOCKED – Matthew 20:19 (NLT)
Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified.
Matthew 27:28 (NLT) They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
Mark15:20 (CEV) When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross.
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What brings on our mockery?
These soldiers brutalize Jesus. Possibly their common response to jewish prisoners. Imagine the Son of God being brutalized by men.
JESUS IS GIVEN HIS CROSS – John 19:16-17 (CEV)
Jesus was taken away, and he carried his cross to a place known as “The Skull.” In Aramaic this place is called “Golgotha.”
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The cross was a public murder device for criminals. This is how Jesus was killed.
Imagine carrying the wood of the cross... up the hill to your eventual slow and public death.
JESUS FALLS – John 12:24 (NLT)
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
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This station, although not found in scripture, is traditionally in three stations. It symbolizes his humanity and his ever decreasing strength as he moves towards his public death.
Imagine Jesus experiencing weakness and distress in a public setting with no where to hide. Imagine the exhaustion of the last 24 hours.
SIMON CARRIES JESUS’ CROSS – Luke 23:26 (CEV)
As Jesus was being led away, some soldiers grabbed hold of a man named Simon who was from Cyrene. He was coming in from the fields, but they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
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Imagine being pulled from the crowd and carrying this man’s device of death. What is it like to walk alongside Jesus in this?
JESUS IS STRIPPED – John 19:23-25 (CEV)
After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided up his clothes into four parts, one for each of them. But his outer garment was made from a single piece of cloth, and it did not have any seams. The soldiers said to each other, “Let's not rip it apart. We will gamble to see who gets it.” This happened so the Scriptures would come true, which say, “They divided up my clothes and gambled for my garments.” The soldiers then did what they had decided.
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Romans crucified criminals naked.
Reflect on the shame of nakedness in the Garden of Eden. And the shame of nakedness in this moment.
JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS – Matthew 27:37-46 (NLT)
A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way. At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
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The long physical pain of crucifixion was excruciating. In fact, the word excruciating is derived from crucifixion.
JESUS DIES – John 19:29-30 (NLT)
A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 15:13 (NLT) There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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Jesus died. He died. Our greatest fear is death. And He was not insulated from that fear. His physical body stopped working.
His friends watched Him die.
JESUS IS BURIED – Luke 23:53-54 (CEV)
He took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in fine cloth. Then he put it in a tomb that had been cut out of solid rock and had never been used. It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
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His friends buried Him.
Have you ever buried a loved one? Imagine doing that with the one you believed was going to change the world and bring ultimate justice and healing.
JESUS RISES – Matthew 28:1-7 (CEV)
The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord's angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead. The angel said to the women, “Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. He isn't here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was lying. Now hurry! Tell his disciples he has been raised to life.
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Consider the other side of our greatest fear.
Jesus shows us that there is something beyond death.