At The Cross: The Path Luke 23:27-33 (Wednesday Lenten Reflection)
When I was a kid, well actually it was this way in
high school as well, living in the small town of Butner, if you wanted to do
any kind of activities like play putt-putt or go to a movie, we would have to
go to either Henderson or Durham. We usually went to Durham because there was
more to do and it was actually closer. I
don’t remember a lot about the times before I started driving, but one thing I
do remember is going with my friend Travis to see Godzilla when I was about
Joshua’s age. Our families didn’t travel
the interstate much at that point, and many times used the back roads including
what we usually refer to as Old Oxford Highway.
The thing about those back-country roads is that when it was dark, it
was dark…and if you were the only vehicle on the road it felt extremely
isolated and remote. That elementary
school age is also the age where, at least back in my day, kids would try to
scare other kids with tells of terror.
That was the age when I first heard the “Legend of Bloody Mary” which made
every kid terrified to use the school restrooms. Another one of those legends had to do with
Three Bridges Road between Durham and Butner that we would have to travel
coming back from the movie. I don’t
remember the details of the legend, only that it evoked the same kind of terror
riding along that road at night that Bloody Mary did in the school bathrooms.
Interestingly enough, as I looked up the Legend of
Three Bridges Road online, I never found the one for Granville County (which
doesn't surprise me) but found that there is a legend of Three Bridges Road in
South Carolina and in Georgia…which made me think…everywhere has a Three
Bridges Road, it just might not be called by that name. Everywhere has a dark road that evokes
terror, not only in little kids, but adults as well. Everyone at some point, travels down a dark
road…and it does not have to be night for the road to be dark.
It’s called “Via Dolorosa,” which translates from
Latin to the “Way of Grief.” It is a
part of the Roman Catholic tradition that marks the journey of Jesus, from
receiving his sentence of death standing before Pilate to the place of
crucifixion, at Golgotha. This path,
this journey, is partly based on Scripture and partly based on the tradition of
our Catholic brothers and sisters. The
path follows this route:
1) Jesus is convicted
2) Jesus receives his cross to carry
3) Jesus stumbles under the weight of
his cross the first time
4) Jesus encounters his mother, Mary
5) Simon helps Jesus carry His cross
6) Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7) Jesus falls a second time
8) Jesus speaks to the women of
Jerusalem
9) Jesus falls a third time
10) Jesus is stripped of his garments
11) Jesus is nailed to the cross
12) Jesus dies on the cross
13) Jesus is taken down from the cross
14) Jesus is laid in the tomb
Can you imagine a darker journey, a darker path? Jesus is convicted of a crime he didn’t
committed. Jesus is forced the bear the
burden of the means of His execution and walk it through the streets of
town. There is no hiding place, there is
no privacy. Jesus stumbles and falls
repeatedly. The only aid comes from a
man on the side of the road forced into service. The only mercy shown is that of a woman
wiping the blood and sweat from his brow.
Jesus is stripped to his loincloth, possibly even of that, nailed to the
cross, and hung there, exposed, for all to see.
As the day wears on, and his strength wains, He eventually suffocates
due to his own body weight. Some friends
and followers take His body down, carry it to a tomb, place it within the tomb,
and seal the tomb closed with a huge stone, leaving the body of Jesus in pitch
black darkness.
The gift of the path…the gift of the journey…the gift
of Via Dolorosa. That is the gift we
consider this week.
Most of us don’t worry about the dark places of
childhood…haunted bathrooms, haunted roads, or even the boogeyman under the
bed. Yet we all have our dark paths, our
dark journeys that we must take.
Maybe it is the path of rehab, seeking to break free
of addiction.
Maybe it is the path of stability, seeking to come out
of spiraling debt.
Maybe it is the path of transition, not knowing what
lies ahead.
Maybe it is the path of opening ourselves to others
after being betrayed by someone close to us.
Maybe that path is the path of treatments, following a
diagnosis of cancer, either for a loved one or ourselves.
Maybe the path is the path of grief, following the
loss of a family member or a friend.
Maybe it is the path of survival, after finding
everything we know unexpectedly yanked out from under us.
We all walk dark paths. We wonder why we have to walk them. We struggle under the weight of the
darkness. We think “why should I find
myself on this path if I am striving to follow Jesus? I am doing the right thing. Why am I suffering? Why am I struggling? Why is this way so hard?”
Jesus offers us these words: “I have said these this to you, so that in me
you may have peace. In the world you
face persecution. But take courage; I
have conquered the world.”[i]
Jesus says, “I give you peace. In this world, you are going to face
troubles, you are going to face persecution, you are going to have to walk
dark, troublesome, scary paths. But take
courage, I have walked those dark paths, I have walked those troublesome paths,
I have walked those scary paths; I have conquered them all…and because they
couldn’t end my life, they cannot end yours.
I have been there, I have overcome that, and I will walk your path with
you, and together we will overcome, we will conquer, and we will be resurrected.”
In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Reflection question:
1) Consider what dark paths you have
been on, you have had to travel, or maybe you are currently walking down.
a. Have you felt Jesus’ presence with
you on that path?
i.
How?
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