EVERYDAY ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
Pastor Sylvia's Enconters with God in the Midst of Everyday Life
|
ABOUT THE COLUMN Sylvia would love to hear your thoughts about this week's encounter. Please send them to sylvia@pastorsylvia.com |
Stations of the Cross This year I made a silent pilgrimage on Good Friday
to the Experience Golgotha Project at the Steilacoom Community Church.
Although I have observed the Stations of the Cross many times, each one
is unique and I was not disappointed. The Way of the
Cross is a Christian devotional tradition that has been imitated for
centuries. Following in the footsteps of Jesus, various “stations”
recount the last moments in our Lord’s life. Documented as early as the
fourth century, it is widely used as a basis for prayer and meditation
by Christians who use this as a representative pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
They walk the Via Dolorosa—The Way of Suffering that Jesus walked to
Golgotha, the hill on which our Lord was crucified.
This Way of
the Cross began with the Passover meal. Matthew chapter 16 tells us
that Jesus and his disciples met in an upper room where the food and
drink had been prepared for them. And as they were eating, he said,
“Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.” (Matt 16:17-30) How distressing this must have been for them! Who
was it? Who could do such a thing? With all the drama of family and
crowds and pending disappointment, I wished that I could have reassured
them, “Yes, this is painful, but it is just Friday. Sunday is coming.” After the meal, Jesus and his friends headed to a
nearby garden to pray. What he wanted most was for his friends to listen
and watch and pray with him, but it had been a long day. They fell
asleep, even as Jesus’ sweat became great drops of blood falling to the
ground, just as Judas betrayed him with a kiss. Jesus was arrested and condemned to death. Pilate
washed his hands of the entire matter. He let the people decide who
would be crucified. I wonder if anyone understood that these events were
occurring on Friday. Sunday was still coming. Jesus carried his cross—Rome’s cruelest method of
punishment. It was a slow, agonizing death by suffocation, while his
muscles were stretched to their limits. Crucifixion was humiliating,
painful, and designed for maximum torture. Carrying the cross after
being scourged and in hypovolemic shock would be close to impossible.
Jesus stumbled. By now he could hardly feel it when his knees hit the
hard stones. This was only Friday. Sometimes our pain makes it hard for
us to imagine that there is a Sunday coming. John 19:23-24 describes a fulfillment of prophesy.
“…they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of
them, with the undergarment remaining.” For this, they drew lots. I can’t even imagine the ultimate indignity of
being stripped naked, laid bare in front of the Romans who mocked him.
Evil continues to treat people like this: the sick and dying, young
women and children sold into sex trafficking, today’s persecuted church
and others who fall into the hands of torturers around the world.
Sometimes the cloak of salvation feels thin on Friday, even though
Sunday is coming. Jesus was nailed to the cross, held in place with
iron spokes through his wrists and feet. I cannot begin to imagine the
pain. After he received a drink of wine vinegar on a stalk of hyssop,
Jesus said, “It is finished.” His life. His purpose. Friday. Finished. His body was taken down and placed in a borrowed
cave. I sat at this last station for a very long time. Pilgrims who came
after me, passed me by. I touched his grave clothes. Friday had been
such a long day. Sometimes our lives have many Fridays and they almost
block our view of what comes next. Saturday was silent. Then came Sunday… |
RECENT COLUMNS Resilience As A Path To Holiness A Christmas Letter From Jesus - 2023 |
Sylvia and Husband John have published a new book,
BOOKS BY SYLVIA
LAURA AND ME; A Sex Offender and Victim Search Together to Understand, Forgive, and Heal
THE RED DOOR; Where Hurt and Holiness Collide
Availible at Amazon and Barns and Noble