Stations of the Cross

Maunday Thursday and Good Friday have always been the most powerful days of the year for me.  We tend to like focussing on the joy of Christmas and Easter, but the significance of both of those events is rooted in what happened in between.  Jesus was born to die, and to be raised from the dead He clearly had to die.  I probably have a weird inclination towards the morbidity of Maunday Thursday and Good Friday, but I'm drawn to the realness of it.  It offers a glimpse into the most intimate aspects of who Jesus is- the intimacy, humility, deep love He shared with His disciples; the silent acceptance of the lies and mockery that led to His condemnation; the anguish in His pleas for God to spare Him, with unwavering devotion to the Father's plan; the physical limitations of Jesus' body as He carries His cross; the tenderness of His words on the cross... my experience of life is that it is really messy, oftentimes incredibly difficult and painful, and offers both the sweetest communion with friends and the darkest hours of loneliness.  So I feel like I can "relate" (for lack of a better term) to these hours of Jesus' life.  Not in the sense of, "I understand what He must have went through," rather that I understand the way I must walk through the shit of this life.  I have to declare John 12:27 to myself constantly- don't ask to be delivered, for this is what you are called to.  Keep your focus on the one thing that matters, just like Jesus did (Isaiah 50:7).

One of the most powerful traditions of the Church has been "The Stations of the Cross."  This is the introduction I will offer regarding them at a Good Friday service tomorrow:

God’s invitation has always been a simple one- “COME.  Follow Me.”  It is the invitation that He extends to every single one of us tonight, whether you have ever accepted the invitation before or not.  Tonight, of all nights, He is longing for us to come. 

For hundreds of years, countless people have journeyed through the Stations of the Cross as a meditative way to respond to the invitation to “Come, follow Jesus.”  The stations offer a path for us to walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary… the final hours of His life prior to being murdered in the most brutal way known to man.  Every moment of Jesus life, including the hours before His death, was perfectly scripted and ordained by God, and that final hour becomes increasingly powerful when we journey with Christ all the way to that cross. 

Over and over again throughout Scripture, God calls His people to “remember.”  Tonight is an opportunity for us to remember together.  Not for the sake of simply remembering.  We remember because what took place on this night more than 2000 years ago defines our lives.  It reveals the horrific reality of each of our sins, and the price that HAD to be paid for every one of our sins.  And it displays the furious love of a God who wrote this night- every moment of it- into the history of the world, that the price of our sins would be paid by Him, and we could live in intimate relationship with Him eternally, now and always. 

Tonight, you are part of the crowds that surrounded Christ on this journey.  You are the one shouting to crucify the man who you worshiped as the Son of God only a week ago.  You are the one silent, grieving because everything you thought to be true was gone.  You are the one mocking Him.  You are the one overcome with sorrow as you watch the one you love hang to die. 

The invitation to life comes ONLY after we have received the invitation to the cross, to death.  Tonight is our opportunity to embrace the simple invitation that Christ is offering- "Come.  Follow me… follow me to the cross."