Hi friends. It’s Holy Week, and I wanted to share images and reflections I wrote a few years ago for a Stations of the Cross event at church. There are 14 Stations adapted for Substack and socials, so I’ll be sending out more emails than usual this week. Feel free to read what you like and skip what you need to, or read them all next Friday. Regardless of how you go about it, I invite you to reflect on the image, Scripture passage, and meditation/reflection question in each email.
When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots. Luke 23:33-34
It is almost impossible for Jesus to breathe as He hangs on the cross, yet the Romans devised methods for prolonging this method of torturous execution. While large nails pierce His flesh and bone, Jesus’ blood flows freely from His hands and his feet.
Christian songs and prayers are filled with references to the “blood of Jesus” because His blood represents His life–-a life of humility poured out in service to humanity, both figuratively (through His teaching and healing ministry) and literally (on the cross). Instead of fighting back against those who condemned Him and nailed Him to the cross, Jesus shed His blood, choosing love and forgiveness not only for them, but also for all people.
“He applies forgiveness to all humankind for all time. How? Why is this death, this blood, this forgiveness universal? I suspect it is because the blood shed is the blood of God, who is Himself universal, an eternal storehouse of mercy. This God who is universal love empties Himself and pours eternal life into the cosmos through the wounds of that first century Jewish Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth.”1
The crucifixion of Jesus holds good news for us, in that we can receive forgiveness for the wrongs we have done–by virtue of the beautiful, simple mercy of God. Wherever we have participated in injustice, however we have wounded others with our actions or words, God will not hold our sin against us when we move toward Him with repentant hearts. This is His “covenant” with us through Jesus’ blood.
Additionally, Jesus’ death is good news because it is a death he dies “for all” so that all who put their faith in him can have abundant, eternal life.
Thanks for reading. I’m a book-obsessed pastor, seminarian, podcaster, author, and life and leadership coach. For essays and podcasts that come straight to your inbox, subscribe to this Dear Exiles newsletter in the subscription box above. Fun fact: I’m also the author of Dear Boy:, An Epistolary Memoir and the host of the Your Pastor Reads Books podcast.
Jersak, Bradley. A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel. (Pasadena: Plain Truth Ministries, 2015), 257.