Second Station of the Cross

Jesus is given His cross 

   “Then they took Him away, and, carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull (in Hebrew Golgotha).”  (John 19: 16 - 17)

   Consider the agony our Lord had already suffered.  He had not slept at all the night before.  He had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and taken to the High Priest and the Sanhedrin.  At dawn He was taken to the home of Pilate.  When Pilate learned that Jesus was Galilean he sent Him to Herod who mocked and tormented Him then sent Him back to Pilate.

   Upon His return to Pilate he was scourged.  The Romans had perfected the method of scourging to cause the victim as much pain and suffering as possible.  Loss of blood was extensive, and many did not survive the scourging.  By the time it was through, Jesus would have hardly been recognizable, a mass of cuts, tears, and gouges in His flesh from head to toe.

   He was again brought before Pilate and condemned to death.  Scourged, beaten, and tormented beyond normal human endurance He was now forced to carry the cross upon which He would die.

   Sit quietly for a few minutes and consider the price Jesus was willing to pay for our sins.  Did our sins make the scourging more painful, the thorns sharper, the cross heavier?  I believe that they did.  I believe that every sin we have committed and will commit weighed upon Him as He quietly and painfully began to carry His cross, the price for our sins.

   In deep sorrow for inflicting such pain on our Lord, let us reach out to God and plead for His mercy.  He will not refuse even though we are just as responsible for the death of His Son as those who crucified Him.  This is the purpose of Lent, to acknowledge all that Christ suffered for us and to seek His mercy and forgiveness.