A reading from the Gospel of Luke

Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned for rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.     As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus. Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children.

Now with him they were also leading out two other criminals to be executed.   When they reached the place called The Skull, they crucified him there and the two criminals also, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’ Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.

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Around the chapel are the fourteen Stations of the Cross. They are there to remind us of the slow painful torturous death Jesus went through. They start over here (nearest you on the right) and go in order until you end up here (nearest you on the left) While the stations remind us of all the painful difficult emotional journey Jesus had to undertake while carrying his cross, there is no evidence of some of the stations in the Bible.

The first station tells us Jesus is Condemned to death, which we know is true, it’s mentioned in all four gospels, as is the second station, when he takes up his cross and starts to walk to the place of execution.

However, when we get to the third and fourth station, when Jesus falls for the first time and when he meets his mother, these events are not mentioned in the Gospels at all. Some scholars will say that Jesus is reported to have fallen only three times as the journey was so short. The he travelled with the cross is about 600 Meters, which is just a bit further than from St Joseph’s to the playing fields on Norbury Hill

Had the journey been longer, we might be told he fell more often.

If he had met his mother this would have been significant and would have been reported, but it wasn’t. It’s understood the meeting with his mother is in the Stations to help us understand how sorrowful this was for those who knew Jesus personally.

The fifth station sees Simon of Cyrene pressganged to carry the cross. Simon was not a willing participant, the guards are believed to have made him help Jesus so that he didn’t die before he was crucified. These is an old school of thought that he did it out of sympathy. Simon’s sons, Rufus and Alexander are mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, it’s understood Mark might have known these two, so Simon was probably about 10 years older than Jesus.

In the six station Veronica wipes Jesus’ face clean of blood and spit and his image stays on the cloth she uses. This is not found in any of the Gospels, in fact no evidence from that time shows her to exist. There is no mention of her until the fourth or fifth century, and her name is derived from the Latin for “True Image”.

 

The seventh and ninth stations are Jesus falling for the second and third time, again, the falls are not recorded in any of the gospels. However, the eighth station, Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, as we have just heard, but only in Luke.

The rest of the stations are all recorded in the Gospels, and we know what happened to Jesus on the cross actually did happen, there are witness accounts other than the four Gospels in the Bible, the Crucifixion of Jesus is even mentioned in the Quran.

The tenth Station tells of Jesus being stripped of his clothes, which were shared among the guards and in the eleventh he is nailed to the cross, unlike other people who were crucified by being tied to the cross, The last three stations talk of Jesus dying and being buried.

There were a lot of witnesses to the fact that Jesus was put to death, there were a lot of people that saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, by rising from the dead he showed us that we too can rise from the death of sin, to eternal life.

 Closing prayer

Merciful God, source of all that is good, cleanse of all that prevents us from seeing you in each of our sisters and brothers around the world. Transform our hearts this Lent, through our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, to be open to the needs of all those who thirst. Spirit of compassion, move us to share with all people the water of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

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