Jesus Dies on the Cross
Station Thirteen of the Cross
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.
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three, because the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was split down the middle. And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:39-43
After six hours of agony, Jesus cries out to his Father in heaven. It is significant that Jesus “entrusts” his spirit to his Father. The reality of death itself is terrifying. Even though Jesus had known the cross was in His future, and even though He had willingly humbled Himself and submitted to this terrible experience, He was not without fear; He was not without feeling as if God had abandoned Him on the cross. And so, with His last breath, Jesus cries out with the loudest cry he could muster with a statement that essentially meant: “Father, I’m choosing to meet death, and I’m trusting You’ll bring me through to the other side.”
The evening before His death, at the last supper with His disciples, Jesus had anticipated this moment by asking His disciples to eat and drink the Passover meal in remembrance of His body and blood on the cross:
(Mark 14: 22-24) As they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Suggested Activity: In remembrance of Jesus’ broken body and blood shed on the cross, find a good Friday service to attend this afternoon or evening take communion with others in the family of God.