Weekend Message/Devotion
March 25, 2018
Reading: Mark 14:1-15:47
The Stations of the Cross
For years, I have preached the “Stations of the Cross” every Palm Sunday. Why?
That is an excellent question. The answer is simple: The stations represent the final steps of our Savior in His journey to the cross and when we read and understand what transpired at each station, we grasp great truth and a renewed compassion for the One who was sacrificed for you and for me.
The stations of the cross as a reading, as a message or as a program has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church. It originated some time in the 5th century. Originally Christians began travelling to Jerusalem where all of this took place and physically visiting the sites of what is today referred to as the “stations”.
But for us today, let’s not dwell on symbolism, icons or denominational differences. Rather, let’s journey the stations with an eye of compassion and understanding what occurred in those final days and hours.
The very last thing that I want anyone to feel is any sense of legalism or duty – I want us to seek truths hungry for truths and understanding. There are many takes on the stations of the cross and some have more stations than others. Today, I have listed nine. This is an outline with a brief overview of the nine stations. I have visited sites where there are trails in a serene setting that have signs and descriptions of the stations along the way. There is no specific significance to the “stations of the cross” other than to view a chronological journey of Christ from the trial to the tomb.
In outline form:
1. Station 1 – Jesus is condemned
“So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.” Mark 15:15
Jesus was fully aware that the chief priests and scribes brought false charges against Him to the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. Yet, He stood there in this kangaroo court and offered NO defense or rebuttal to these charges.
Pilate did not wish to condemn Jesus to the cross but also feared that the Jewish leaders might lead a revolt against the government, if he did not.
The charge? They twisted the title King of the Jews, as many followers referred to Jesus.
In other words, the religious leaders would have the Roman government believe that Jesus was trying to overthrow the Roman rule and occupation.
2. Station 2 – Jesus is given a heavy wooden cross to carry to the crucifixion site – Golgatha.
Jesus collapsed under the weight of this heavy cross. Remember that Jesus has forgone all divine power and made this journey in a natural human state.
“And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.” Mark 15:20-22
3. Station 3 – Meets the women of Jerusalem
Even in His tortured and weak state, Jesus reached out in compassion to the crowds and specifically to the women. His message was that they need not weep for Him but for themselves and their families. In the reading that follows, I believe Jesus is saying that the state of the world is in chaos. If those responsible for this can do so publicly and with impunity, what will the future bring?
Look at it this way. Jesus was sacrificed for our salvation – our eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here on earth, life is full of injustices, hate, sickness, pain and travesty. While here, we can all only strive to share the love and mercy of God, in every phase of our lives. We pray against tyranny, injustice, divisiveness, and travesties of all kinds. Yet they prevail. They prevail because like those times in this reading, Satan continues to hold a grip on all that do not submit to God and for whom the sacrifice of Jesus has little meaning.
When Jesus looked upon His mother, He spoke lovingly to her and said: “Behold you son.”
Jesus then spoke to his beloved disciple John and said, “Behold your mother.”
Jesus did not wish to leave his mother without care and so He directed a mother son relationship between John and His mother.
“And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” Luke 23:27-31
4. Station 4 – Jesus meets His Mother
When Jesus looked upon His mother, He spoke lovingly to her and said: “Behold you son.”
Jesus then spoke to his beloved disciple John and said, “Behold your mother.”
Jesus did not wish to leave his mother without care and so He directed a mother son relationship between John and His mother.
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:15-27
5. Station 5 – Stripped of His garments
As prophesied in Psalm 22:18 – The soldiers stripped our Lord of His clothing and gambled among themselves for possession. Total humiliation! Jesus has been beaten, tortured and made to parade in the streets where He was taunted all along the way to Golgatha, site of the crucifixion by crowds, who have been whipped into a frenzy mostly by means of peer pressure started by the religious leaders.
Today, we often see, hear or read of very prominent people mocking Jesus and Christianity. We must realize the similarities of those historical sentiments and like sentiments of today. You may remember the televised statement by a minister in the pulpit who stated. “God damn the United States of America.” This was in a church attended by a future president of our country. With sentiments like that, what are his sentiments of God and God’s people.
“They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,”. that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.” John 19:24
“They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.” Psalms 22:18
6. Station 6 - Jesus is nailed to the cross
I haven’t read an actual account of Jesus being nailed to the cross. However, the account of Thomas in doubting the other disciples claiming to have seen the risen Christ is convincing that Jesus was indeed nailed to the cross.
The excruciating pain that He endured is almost beyond comprehension. I shudder and fight back tears, when I remind myself that I am just as guilty as anyone else for that crucifixion. He died for your sins and my sins and those of all mankind, for all time.
“Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” John 20:23-25
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
7. Station 7 – Jesus dies on the cross
It is finished! Yes, the physical life of Jesus the Christ came to an end. Of course, that is not the end of His journey. What He is saying is that His work as a flesh and blood man here on earth is finished. I know that I say this often, but it bears repeating and it bears repeating often. God wills that our will becomes “to do His will”. God does not want puppets, He wants followers. Thus, Jesus came to teach us the Will of God. It was too often rejected then, and it is rejected today by too many. Our job in ministry is to continue to share the truth of the gospel that others may learn that truth and seek to do the will of God.
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” John 19:28-30
8. Station 8 – Jesus is taken from the cross
We talked about Nicodemus going in search of Jesus in the darkness in that recent sermon entitled Snakes, Witches and Barbed Wire Fences. Here we are again but this time, we see Nicodemus and Joseph emboldened by the knowledge of the gospel and love for Jesus; Joseph by actually going to Pilate and asking permission to take care of the body of Christ and prepare it for burial.
When a follower of Christ becomes dedicated and fully committed, along with that comes a boldness that is divinely inspired. We read account after account of failures and overcoming failures. Boldness in Christ accompanies that overcoming.
“After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being 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 the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.” John 19:38-40
9. Station 9 – Jesus is laid in the tomb
And there you have it. Joseph of Arimathea had a tomb which was dug or hewn out of rock for a burial. He placed the prepared body of Jesus, wrapped in burial linens and anointed with burial spices in that tomb. This is one very unselfish and dedicated acts! Here Joseph has foregone any concerns about being criticized or ostracized and now given of his own possession a respectable burial tomb for Jesus.
O that we could all be that generous, bold and sincere!
“Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.” Mark 15:46-47
I trust that you gained some insight from having gone through the stations of the cross. Reading and studying the four gospel accounts all the way through will enhance your understandings even more.
Let us pray -
