Station 1 - Jesus is Tempted

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:38

Jesus is compelled to honesty and desperation in prayer.
In his desperation, Jesus calls his friends together. What drives you to such a desperate time of prayer? On whom do you call?

“Look now he's kneeling he's washin' their feet
Though they're all filthy fishermen, traitors and thieves
Now he's pouring his heart out and they're fallin' asleep
But he has to go lower still”

Station 2 - Jesus is Betrayed

“Friend, do what you came here to do.” Matthew 26:50

“The son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days he will rise.” Mark 9:31

14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Matthew 26:14-16

The son of God was betrayed for currency.

The son of God was betrayed by a kiss.

The son of God was betrayed by a friend.

The son of God was betrayed by his creation.

Station 3 - Jesus is Condemed

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. John 19:15

Jesus submits quietly and peacefully.
Jesus is condemned by religious leaders.
What was their fear?

“what new mystery is this? overflowing emptiness
the Invisible is seen among the shadows and the mist,
before my doubting eyes… the Infinite appears in time -
the Unquestionable is questioned but makes no reply!

Station 4 - Jesus is Mocked

“But if i spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” John 18:23

27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Matthew 27:27 - 31

What brings on our mockery?

These soldiers brutalize Jesus.
Possibly their common response to jewish prisoners.
Imagine the Son of God being brutalized by men.
Imagine the Son of God being tortured by the empire.

“What new mystery is this?
What blessed backwardness?
The Immeasurable one is held and does not resist!
Struck by wicked words and foolish fists of senseless men
The Almighty One does not defend!”

Station 5 - Jesus is Given His Cross

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

“Strip off his clothes
Make him crawl through the streets
Lower still, lower still”

The cross was a public murder device for criminals. This is how Jesus was killed.

Imagine carrying the wood of the cross… up the hill to your eventual slow and public death.

Station 6 - Jesus Falls

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

This station, although not found in scripture, is traditionally in three stations. It symbolizes his humanity and his ever decreasing strength as he moves towards his public death.

Imagine Jesus experiencing weakness and distress in a public setting with nowhere to hide. Imagine the exhaustion of the last 24 hours.

Station 7 - Simon Carries Jesus’ Cross

Simon the Cyrene carries His cross - Luke 23:26

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

Imagine being pulled from the crowd and carrying this man’s device of death. What is it like to walk alongside Jesus in this?

Station 8 - Jesus is Stripped

“For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23:31

“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34

Romans crucified criminals naked.

In the Garden of Eden, man first felt shame from nakedness. At the cross, Jesus is shamed through forced nakedness.

“Strip off his clothes
Make him crawl through the streets
Lower still, lower still”

Station 9 - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man then you will know that I am the one i claim to be….” John 8:28

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all mankind to myself.” John 12:32 “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
The long physical pain of crucifixion was excruciating. In fact, the word excruciating is derived from crucifixion.

Station 10 - Jesus Dies

“He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

“It is finished.” John 19:30

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[e] When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:44 - 46

Jesus died. He died. Our greatest fear is death. He was not insulated from that fear. He was not protected from that reality.
His physical body stopped working.
His friends watched Him die.

Station 11 - Jesus is Buried

“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” Matthew 26:12 Luke 23:50-56

His friends buried Him.

Have you ever buried a loved one?
Imagine doing that with the one you believed was going to change the world and bring ultimate justice and healing.
Imagine burying the Creator of existence.

Station 12 - Jesus Rises
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for his sheep.” John 10:11

“Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the son of man has been raised from the dead.” Matthew 17:9

Revelation 1:17-18 “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

1 Peter 2:24-25 M
Consider the other side of our greatest fear.

Jesus shows us that there is something beyond death.

The Earth explodes
She cannot hold him!
And all therein is placed beneath Him
And death itself no longer reigns
It cannot keep the ones he gave himself to save
And as the universe shatters the darkness disolves
He alone will be honored
We will bathe in his splendor
As all heads bow lower still
All heads bow lower still