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.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face. Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.” Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!" John 19:1-5
Not only is Jesus tortured with repeated whippings and beatings, but He is mocked throughout the entire ordeal by those who despise Him. He is called “King of the Jews” sarcastically and ironically because a real king—so the soldiers thought—would never submit to their abuses and mockeries. identifies with those who endure beatings, torture, and mockery throughout our world. In recent years, China has been called out on the world stage for forced detention and sterilization of Uighur Muslims; in Afghanistan, Christians and other religious minorities as well as LGBTQ Afghans have been murdered, tortured, gang-raped, hunted and/or stoned by the Taliban;1 and more than 200 million women and girls in 30 countries have had genital mutilation forced upon them, resulting in devastating health conditions.2 In sum, torture and human rights abuses flourish around the world where human beings made in the image of God are scourged and mocked as Jesus was.
Reflection: Where in the world are you aware of those suffering torture and abuse?
Suggested Prayer: Lord, I mourn for those who are wounded and tortured in these places in the world. May all who meet devastating ends be comforted by the mercy and peace of Christ. And may you bring the evil of evildoers upon their own heads.
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://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/26/afghanistan-taliban-target-lgbt-afghans
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation