10th Scriptural Station of the Cross

Jesus is Crucified (Luke 23:33-38)

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.

[Jesus and the sign at the bottom of the painting are predominant to me. And the pale-yellow air all around Jerusalem that symbolizes corruption and degragation. This is a cleaned-up version of what Jesus would have looked like at the time. I tried to look up the translation of the words but the best I can guess is that it says: I am dying to take away the sins of the world.

The INRI sign at the top of the cross also strikes me. It is “framed” on a prettier piece of wood than the cross, and the top of that piece ends in a shamrock (Trinity) design. The cross is brown on the cross bar, but black at the bottom. The rocks around it are black. Our dark natures. Our sins since Adam’s and Eve’s in the Garden. Their original sin took everlasting life from us. But God didn’t make us to die. He wants us to live forever, just as He intended when He made us. Jesus’ death won immortality for us–but only after our earthly death.

The skull could be a reference to our mortality, and immortality if we follow Jesus. It could also be a reference to the place Jesus was crucified, Golgatha, meaning “place of the skulls.”

The loyal women and Saint John the Apostle’s depictions seem muted on the left. So do the soldiers on the right. The one soldier is gesturing as if talking to the other soldier. Maybe he is asking the other if he thinks Jesus is dead yet so they can go home. It’s growing dark in mid-afternoon and the earthquake may have started so maybe he is questioning if Jesus truly is the Son of God.

All but one of the ladies on the left are looking at Jesus. The one who isn’t is looking directly at me, the viewer of the art. Maybe she is asking, “And what do you say? Do you say He is the Son of God? Do you believe He is the King of the Jews and King of all?” She looks skeptical, like she knows I am tempted to doubt when things in our modern world look bleak: the poverty; the lies; sinful motives; war; even when my own dreams fail to come true.

The sky is interesting. I expected the dark clouds that preceded the earthquake that occured the moment Jesus died. I did not expect to see a full moon and a cresent moon. Luke’s gospel says it was dark because of an eclipse of the sun. I like how God uses nature (that He created) to communicate. Maybe the two moons indicate the chaos that was happening on earth and in the heavens because of what God’s “creatures” did to their Creator.

I just thought of something. I know the curtain of the temple was torn apart–top to bottom. If men tore it, it would have been torn from the bottom up. So it was God tearing it (using an earthquake). But what I just thought of was that, in the Bible, men would tear their shirts over their hearts to show a broken heart. Maybe the curtain tearing wasn’t just showing that the boundary between humans and God, the curtain-wall of the Temple separating humans from God, was gone and now we could all get to heaven. Maybe when the Temple curtain was torn, it was God tearing His shirt showning His broken heart! I like that.

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 us merciful hearts that we may bring your reconciliation and forgiveness to all.

Contemplate. Relax. Enjoy God’s presence. Listen.

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 at the next Station.