Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the Cross
And they crucified him…
Mark 15: 24
Reflection: Naked, Jesus is thrust down upon the cross; two soldiers stretch his hands, spread wide to fit the crossbeam. An iron nail is fit into each wrist. The strokes of the hammer that nail Jesus to the cross echo within the hearts of the women who are gathered there with John, across the hills of Golgotha, across the centuries, here and now.
As the cross is lifted into place, the body of Jesus writhes convulsively. The nails hold as the cross is dropped into its base. Jesus is attached to the cross; there is no escaping.
The women – his mother, her sister Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala – look on, inundated with the waves of pain that wash over Jesus. Perhaps there was another woman, standing somewhat apart, who remembered long years of being “nailed” to a condition of hemorrhaging when no medical help was available or effective. Looking at Jesus as he was nailed to the cross, she would have remembered how she had also been victimized by the taboos of religious practice, so that she was shunned, and believed to be unclean, a source of spiritual contamination to others. She had only touched the hem of his robe and felt his healing power. He had lifted her up, so that she could walk free again. How she sees him, and that robe has been stripped from him. He cannot move those marvelous hands to reach out and touch with love those who are in need.
Mark 15: 24
Reflection: Naked, Jesus is thrust down upon the cross; two soldiers stretch his hands, spread wide to fit the crossbeam. An iron nail is fit into each wrist. The strokes of the hammer that nail Jesus to the cross echo within the hearts of the women who are gathered there with John, across the hills of Golgotha, across the centuries, here and now.
As the cross is lifted into place, the body of Jesus writhes convulsively. The nails hold as the cross is dropped into its base. Jesus is attached to the cross; there is no escaping.
The women – his mother, her sister Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala – look on, inundated with the waves of pain that wash over Jesus. Perhaps there was another woman, standing somewhat apart, who remembered long years of being “nailed” to a condition of hemorrhaging when no medical help was available or effective. Looking at Jesus as he was nailed to the cross, she would have remembered how she had also been victimized by the taboos of religious practice, so that she was shunned, and believed to be unclean, a source of spiritual contamination to others. She had only touched the hem of his robe and felt his healing power. He had lifted her up, so that she could walk free again. How she sees him, and that robe has been stripped from him. He cannot move those marvelous hands to reach out and touch with love those who are in need.
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We stand there with them, women who know what it means to be nailed to a cross. We have stood by our husbands, our children, our parents, our friends, other women who are nailed to circumstances that are crucifying them: marriages that are not good marriages, work that is meaningless, illness that is terminal, addictions to alcohol or drugs or food or work…Perhaps we ourselves have known the pain of what it means to be “nailed” to the cross that is part of every life.
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Prayer: Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, AMEN.
Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, AMEN.
Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us.
Photo used under Creative Commons from ethnosax
