13th Scriptural Station of the Cross

Jesus Dies on the Cross (Luke 23: 44-46)

Note: this is an extra blog on Wednesday of Holy Week to pray at the 13th Station. The final Station is tomorrow, Holy Thursday, so your schedule will be free to attend Good Friday services.

Prepare your setting. Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. Set your timer.

Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Then: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Invite Jesus to visit with you. Tell Him of any concerns that are on your mind.

“Read” the image. Look from top to bottom, left and right. Look over it a second or third time. What strikes you? What is happening? What objects and symbols do you notice? Ponder the messages. I’ll share my thoughts [in brackets], but your thoughts are what matter.

[How interesting! I’ve never seen a painting like this for any of the Stations. It is Jesus’ perspective of the people with Him just before He dies. Wow.

At first I didn’t like the painting. All the white on the ground looks like snow and confuses me. There wasn’t snow in Jerusalem when Jesus died. And look at the face of the person closest to the viewer, to the cross–surely that’s Mary, His Mother. Her face is so white! There are the three women huddled together. There is white in their garments and some in their faces. It’s all of the other Marys: of Clopas, Salome, and Magdala. And the standing figure in white. That must be Saint John. What is going on? Surely it must be the light of Christ, the light of Redemption, the light of heaven making everything so bright as the angels and Father welcome Jesus back home.

Oh, and look at the other figures in white further back. It looks like a tomb in the center of the scene; and two men in white are sitting near it. Elijah and Moses maybe, since that’s who He met with during His Transfiguration? And to the left, two more figures in white. This makes me think of Matthew’s Gospel that said when Jesus died, and the earth shook, the graves of the dead were opened and that some of the people left their graves and appeared to some of the people in Jerusalem.

But the appearing to people part happened after Jesus was Resurrected. And like the resurrected Jesus, those former dead didn’t appear to everyone. Maybe the artist was saying Jesus knew that would happen because Scripture reported it would, and Jesus knew it was part of the fulfillment He was bringing. Wow. It makes sense. What a scene!

Again, we have the holy women and men dressed in blue (truth) and white (pure, forgiven, redeemed). The red of sacrifice and of Jesus’ tremendous love spilled out in blood is still eye-catching in the soldier’s cloak on the left. And the pale yellow of disloyalty and treachery are mostly in the scarves of the High Priests on horses. Oh, they are on their “high horses”, figurative language for they are “uppidty and self-righteous”. Yet there are Jews behind them in grayish blue–maybe that means ‘close to the truth’–on their way to accepting Jesus in their hearts and saying it aloud–or maybe just standing close to The Truth, Jesus.

The jars of cheap wine and the sponges on sticks lay on the ground. Two soldiers are in squat position and the one on the right is laughing. He seems to be looking at the cloth bundled near the base of the cross. He must be thinking of throwing lots to see who keeps Jesus’ no-seam garment. (Also predicted in the Scriptures.)

But what is Jesus thinking as He hangs from the cross? What did He see? If I was there, would He see me? And what would I say if I could get close enough to say it?

Meditate. Talk to God about the image, how you feel and why. Wrestle with Him about your questions until you have nothing else to say.

Pray. Lord Jesus, grant me trust in You, that when my time on earth is ended, my spirit may come to You without delay.

Contemplate. Relax. Enjoy God’s presence. Listen until the timer sounds.

Write something to keep in your heart until your next prayer session.

Thank Jesus for visiting with you. End with the Sign of the Cross. Amen.

Thank you for joining us for this meditation. I look forward to praying with you again tomorrow at the 14th, and last Station.