Jesus Falls Again--For Us Series

Jesus Falls Once Again

(Those of us who have had the privilege and honor of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land always make Jerusalem part of the holy time. There, although the Jewish Temple has been replaced by a grand mosque, we can see the very places we read about in the New Testament, the actions of our redemption through the life, passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many make the way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa, an ancient prayer service with stops at places that commemorate events of Our Lord’s tortuous journey to the place of His execution. Some of the stations, as they are called, are taken directly from the Gospels, some are inferred from the practice of crucifixion, and a few come from the more reliable Christian traditions.)

At the seventh station of the cross, the Church envisions Jesus falling soon after a woman wipes His sweaty, bloody face. Now He is about halfway through the trek from the Governor’s praesidium to the hill of Calvary, the execution place. He is bleeding and exhausted. Remember that His last meal was about fifteen hours earlier. Since that time Jesus has spent a couple of hours looking forward to His unjust trial and torture and execution. He knew about Judas and his betrayal. His fear and anxiety was probably more for His disciples than for Himself, because Peter was a hothead with a sword and some of the others might try to liberate Jesus. He had lost blood by sweating, by beating, by flogging, and by crowning with a thorn-cap.

At one time in my life, I believed that if a man fainted and woke with face on the floor, it would usually be from abusing alcohol or drugs. That was until one November day I jammed a finger, had excruciating pain, felt nausea and dizziness, and woke up with my glasses torn off and my face on the floor of the kitchen. The EMS and emergency room people certified that I was generally OK after a couple of hours of examination, but I had experienced a vagal response. The vagus nerve can act as a kind of “kill switch” for the body. One of the major triggers is intense pain. Our Lord had pain inflicted on him almost continually for the fifteen hours since His last meal. Other vagal stimuli include emotional stress, bleeding, fear other trauma and standing for a long time. Look at the Gospels and tell me which of these was not relevant to Christ’s passion.

So, dear Jesus, you are down on the pavement with additional injury to your face and hands and knees, and the Roman milites respond with their customary sympathetic gestures. That means they beat you even harder and drag you back out of the dust to your feet. With prods they push you forward to your doom. Simon at least follows with your cross. Some in the crowd wail empathetically, others jeer and curse. You feel weak. You feel abandoned. Yet You are committed to Your path, to Your Father’s will. You can’t do this, but You must do it. You know that the plan of the Father moves beyond this suffering into triumph over sin and death and the spread of God’s love to the nations. You know that it is the hand of the Father who raises You up from the dust and sets You once more on Your path. And all of us are the beneficiaries.

What more can You do? You are giving the best You have; You are giving everything for us. Because of Your passion, Your falls, Your death, and Your Resurrection, we do not have to fall into eternal death. Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever.