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.
So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed. At the festival Pilate used to release for the people a prisoner whom they requested. There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion. The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” For he knew it was because of envy that the priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead. Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Again they shouted, “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Mark 15:2-15
After the chief priests, elders, and scribes condemn Jesus to death, He is also condemned by Pontius Pilate who was influenced by the crowd crying out for Jesus’ crucifixion. Matthew’s gospel says Pilate “washed his hands” of the responsibility for Jesus’ death and told the crowd, essentially, “this is on you.” For fear of their rioting, he hands Jesus over to be flogged and crucified with the attitude of “it’s not my job to fix this.”
Every year, many people are forced to flee their homes or face a death sentence as Jesus did. They scramble in order to save their lives and those of their children. Since the civil war in Syria began in 2011, more than 6.5 million refugees fled the country. Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, 6 million Ukrainians have had to flee Ukraine in order to escape Russian brutality.1 Many families have been separated and will never be reunited. Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began last year, more than three quarters of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been internally displaced.2 When we read the headlines, the idea of peace and healing seems almost unattainable. At a certain point, do we shrug helplessly like Pilate and say there’s nothing we can do? Or, do we continue on with vigilance through prayer and other action?
Activity: IC compassion is an organization in Iowa City that works to help local immigrants and refugees through citizenship classes and free legal services. Consider how you might engage, donate, volunteer and pray for this organization or another organization doing similar work.
Suggested Prayer: Lord, please comfort and save all those who run from their homelands because of danger. Keep them safe and meet their material needs through the hands of others. Even though I am only one person in an enormous world, show me how to pray and care for them. And may my heart and hands be open to those in my own city who are here as strangers in a new land.
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.
https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukrainian-refugee-crisis-current-situation-encs#:~:text=Up%20to%20a%20third%20of,in%20Europe%20but%20also%20overseas.
https://www.unfpa.org/occupied-palestinian-territory#:~:text=We%20cannot%20abandon%20the%20people%20of%20Gaza&text=More%20than%20three%20quarters%20of%20Gaza's%202.2%20million%20people%20are%20internally%20displaced.,-More%20than%20a