Jesus Nailed to a Tree

Tomorrow, the Friday called good, Jesus is nailed to the cross. He has carried the cross...



Now He will lay upon those two pieces of wood and allow them to drive the nails...


Into His hands and feet they pierce deep...


And grace flows to cover us. I want to hang my head and cry out. I am so sorry that this is the way. The way that covers me. I want to say thank you but these words fall short. There are no words for the way my heart feels...

Naked

This is the station where Jesus' very clothes are taken. Even typing the words seems to make me draw back. I turn my eyes from the image.

It is our first instinct...to cover up. The first thing Adam and Eve did after they sinned...made clothes from leaves. We want to cover what God can clearly see as if that will help.

Oh the time I spend covering. Trying to hide the flaws and imperfections from the world, from God...even from myself. Having our clothing taken in public is a high form of shame. Many of us have nightmares about it. Jesus lived it. Before he goes to the cross...everything is taken...even his clothes.



There he stands naked before God and men...nothing to cover. Nothing needed for cover. And because of what he did...the sacrifice he made...the only covering we will ever need is his grace.

Lord, help me remember that there is no reason to cover myself with you.  Your grace does that.  I want to be unashamed before you and I realize I cannot do this on my own.  I am sorry for the things that need covering...for my sin that caused you to be stripped.  Thank you Jesus....amen.

The Last Fall

I hear the slow methodical knock in the yard and go to see what it is. There on what is left of a fallen tree is the most beautiful woodpecker I have ever seen. Grabbing my camera I continue to sneak closer...inch by inch...wondering if the click of the shutter is going to scare him away.
(I did get a great picture...but technical difficulties has kept me from sharing. This one is from the Internet...you get the idea.)



I am amazed by his determination. What does he know about this fallen tree that I don't? What is growing on the inside? I watch him poke and knock off large chunks of bark. By now there is a large area where you can see the flesh of the tree. He works...determined...completely unaware of me and my camera clicking. I see a fallen tree...he sees breakfast.

Three times in the stations Jesus falls. In our culture falling is a bad thing. We do everything we can to never fall. When things fall around the house we promptly take care of it. The tree fell and all I see is future firewood...not good for much except to be burned. The woodpecker reminded me that there is value in the fallen things. Things can look useless from the outside but maybe there is some life on the inside. Tiny amounts of growth that the world cannot see. We learn as much if not more when we fall.

And when we do I believe it gives us the opportunity to cry out like Peter, and Jesus will never fail to reach down and take our hand.

Jesus Meets the Weeping Women

How can I read and study and hear a passage of scripture all my life and not know about this? Jesus on the road to the cross...stops to speak to the women there along the way.

They were weeping and lamenting over his pending crucifixion. Like me, I imagine that the sight of him beaten and torn brought them to their knees.



And then he speaks, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." He goes on to tell them that days will come when it is better to not have children, that they will want the mountains to fall and cover them. "For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23L 27-31)

I find myself, during Holy Week, weeping for Him too. The words He speaks to them, they do not feel comforting...more like a rebuke. Jesus knew the heart behind the tears that day. Could it be that they were weeping for the man Jesus was and not realizing that their own sin is what paved the way to the cross?

This is what we should weep about...and repent...and as my dear friend says..."move around". Move around to His way, move around when sin comes near, move around when temptation comes.


Jesus, I am so sorry for the things I have done that continue to cause you pain.  I want to be pure in heart...to see you clearly.  Show me how to move around my temptations, my tendency to sin.  I want to keep my eyes on you...amen. 

Jesus Falls a Second Time

Midway through the stations and we find that Jesus falls again. Today I go to celebrate a life that has fallen from illness. His daughters stand together and I am struck by how beautiful it is...two young women...literally strengthening each other as they do the hard thing.

The pastor reads a quote from Sarah Young's Jesus Calling:

"You are mine for all time--and beyond time, into eternity. No power can deny you your inheritance in heaven. I want you to realize how utterly secure you are! Even if you falter as you journey through life, I will never let you go of your hand."

The quote reminds me of falling in another scripture when Peter asks to walk on water. He is the only one who asks to get out of the boat. There were many in the boat but only one who wanted to get out of the boat. And so he does and at first all is well. Can you imagine it...Peter walking on water? I wonder what feet look like when they are standing firm on something that continually moves?



Fear of falling often keeps us in our boats. The places we are secure, comfortable and safe. We would rather live the safe life than risk the fall. But not Peter...he was a risk taker. He is the only one I know besides Jesus who experienced the miracle of walking on water. At least for a little while.

You probably know the story...Peter looks down...takes his eyes off Jesus and down he goes. He cries for help and what happens next should give us all freedom to step out of the boat.



Jesus reaches down and takes Peter by the hand...pulls him up and they walk to the boat together. Jesus reminding Peter that faith would have been better than doubt in this water walking thing.

Where am I in this story? Where are you? Are you one that stays in the boat to worried about falling? Would you step over the side of the boat and place your feet on water like Peter?

Trusting Jesus to reach down and take our hand in the midst of the fall gives us freedom to take risks...do the hard thing. It's the title of a book I read once and it sticks with me. If you want to walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat.

Lord, I do not want to miss out because I am afraid to fall.  Build my trust in you...that you will reach down when I am sinking and take hold of my hand...amen.

Compassion on the Journey

This station of the cross...Veronica wipes Jesus' face...intrigued me the most. I was pretty sure I had never heard of this woman before, never read about her in scripture.

After a quick study I have learned that you will not find Veronica, nor this story, in scripture. The tale of Veronica is mostly legend or myth though some do believe that this might be the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment. They also believe that the cloth she wiped Jesus' face with held and image of Jesus imprinted on it.


What could we gain or learn from this station? Veronica's very name means "true image". The story goes that she had a cloth with the image of Jesus on it. Something sacred...to be cherished. Like that cloth we each have a true image of Christ too. The very beginning of scripture reminds us, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." Jesus was there in the beginning with the Father...helping to create each of us...in the image of himself.

I wonder. Is my life reflecting His image? Do others know that somewhere in this heart of mine is the very imprint of Jesus? Do I cherish this image? Consider it sacred? Am I reaching out with compassion like Veronica to those in need?

Lord, help me reflect your very image today. In the doing, and the going, and the being. Don't let me walk by those in need of compassion. Show me how to reach out to them...to wipe their very face. Show me how to love them more...amen.

Help On the Journey

I have always had a lot of wonder about this station of the cross...when Simon the Cyrene carries it for Jesus.



Questions shoot through my mind. Why him? Did he know Jesus? Was he scared? Was his life changed by this? Did he begin to believe?

Everything that is written in scripture has a purpose...a wisdom. Jesus, he was God...and man. He could have called on Godly strength...his power to carry the cross. This is the man who walked on water...hushed storms...frightened demons with just his presence. These things did not change when he was handed a cross. He was still as much God as he was man. And in this moment, he chose to be weak. His choice was to allow someone else to help...to carry...to walk with him.

How many times have I refused help in the face of pride? Thinking "I can do this myself". And the truth is I probably could...but is that the point. Jesus accepted help...allowed someone else into the story. I like to think it transformed Simon's life. One of my favorite songs says it did.

Watch The Lamb

God created us for community...to live as one. Letting others help is accepting the blessings of God.

Mary Along The Way

The first time I watched The Passion I could not let go of the scene where Jesus falls and Mary runs to him.



In the movie she has this flash back of Jesus falling as a young child. She picks him up and holds him in her lap to comfort him. I guess I had never really thought about the horror those who loved him went through at the time of his crucifixion. I considered them to be just another group of spectators in the crowd.

It was so much more. Those that loved Jesus, the eleven, his brothers and sisters...his own mother...their hearts must have been ripped out while they watched. They were not like Jesus. The did not understand that this was just the beginning...to them...it was the end.

Throughout the movie I was moved by Mary's strength and commitment. He speaks to her from the cross and I cannot believe she is there. How can a mother watch and still...how can she not...be there for Him? It challenged me to take a look at my own desire to follow Him. Could I go to the length Mary did in loving Jesus? Would I follow Him in the terrible times as well as the good?

Lord, I want to love you like Mary did.  My heart's desire is to love you more...with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength...amen.

Jesus Falls

The third station of the cross is the first time Jesus falls.



I walk by the garden near the place where bean seeds are planted. I wonder what is going on down in the soil. Are they beginning to open and push their first leaf up towards the surface? I wish somehow I could be down in that dirt and watch the growth.

The Message says,

"Listen carefully: unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way anyone who hold on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, then you will have it forever."

Jesus spoke these words. He knew that in a very short time all that he had taught the disciples...the things he had shown them...would all seem dead. Jesus understood this dying to live thing. I love the way The Message says it...reckless in your love. Webster's defines reckless as careless of the consequences or irresponsible.

The definition of the word seems negative...not a word we want others to define us by. This path that Jesus walked leads to the most incredible act of reckless love I have ever known.

Lord, help me to be reckless in my love for you, for others...not worrying about the consequences or the sacrifice...amen.

Carrying Crosses

Jesus is condemned to carry a cross. This wooden shape was created for one thing...torture until death. The Romans made an art of creating ways to execute. They took pride in their punishment. The cross...it was the most horrific way to die...and it was chosen to be the place where Jesus would take his last breath.


The cross was a symbol of death. You would never have found a cross hanging on the wall in someone's home or worn as jewelry around a neck. Today we could liken it to the electric chair...not something we would replicate in our homes...even have a picture of somewhere. The few times I have seen an actual picture of one...I shudder.

Take a walk through you home. How many crosses do you see? The scriptures tells, "take up your cross and follow me". I am torn by this. I can almost feel shudder beginning. My friend once said that there was a time she didn't really get it. She just wasn't sure why others thought following Jesus was so great...after all his life did not end so well. I thought...you got me there.

This is a hard teaching. Learning that Jesus creates beautiful things from what we consider horrible. It is a true mystery how this works.  The cross is the ultimate symbol of this.  Only Jesus could take something as horrible and gruesome as death on a cross and make it a beautiful symbol of our faith.

Lord, help me to realize that the crosses in my life...those things that I would rather avoid...these are the things that your want to use to make something beautiful.  Show me how to surrender those things to you.  Thank you Lord for the cross, for your power to make what I think is terrible into something incredible...Amen.

Beautiful Things by Gungor

Gardens and Betrayal

I have to admit it...I am a country girl. I went to sleep last night just thinking about digging in the dirt today. I have had this vision in my head for so long...the perfect garden complete with a fence and guinea house. Each year I find myself planting...learning what works...finding joy in the smell of working soil.



I sit in the evening sun looking at the days work. With the help of my family..the fence is up..the seeds have been put in...tiny plants placed in rows. The guineas are in their new house and there is nothing else to do but watch the sprinkler rain drops on fresh tilled soil. A garden is such a picture of what will be...plants producing goodies. We work and sweat...our skin kissed by the sun and now there is nothing to do but wait and wonder. Will this pay off? Will the sacrifice make it worth it.

Jesus has been betrayed. He knows that something difficult is coming. And we find him in the a garden. There he lays it all down. He has this discussion with the Father...hoping there will be another way. In the end, he is willing...to sacrifice...to endure...to move forward.


I have thought about it throughout the day. Why Judas, would you sell out? Trade coins for the Messiah? Could it be that he just didn't quite believe that Jesus was who he said he was?

And isn't that in all of us...the ability to betray? It is easy to imagine that we would never do such a thing...sell out for coins or fame or moving up. The truth is we can and we do.

I too betray...when I pass by those in need, won't give my time to someone who is hurting, hold on to what belongs to Him.

Lord, forgive us when we betray you...put ourselves first...choose the world over you. Help me to return to the garden of prayer. The place where I find your very presence. Give me a willing heart. One that will sacrifice and lay down my own will...my wants...my desires. Create in me a clean heart where nothing would get in your way...amen.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Journey to the Cross

This Lenten season has been a little different for me.  Instead of fasting for a season I decided to give things away permanently...a purging so to speak.  The call to give has taken on many forms...some material...some emotional...still some things not making much sense at all.  And yet I still ask, "Lord, what can I give today?"

My friend tells me of this journey they take each Sunday afternoon through the stations of the cross at her church...14 points along the journey Jesus experienced.  I asked to go along wanting to check it out...see what this worship is all about. I follow the one with the cross, a member of the congregation.  I listen and recite the liturgy, bowing my head, in awe of the way Jesus took for me.

The words in the little book of liturgy say this is a prayer journey. A time of contemplation and it only takes an hour and I want more...more than an hour...

I hear a gentle calling...back to these pages.  The place where my own journey first took the form of words typed on a screen.  What could rend a heart more than watching one pour out grace for each of us?  I invite you along for this journey...a two week contemplation on each of the "stations".  These words, they are my giving as we near the end of this season.  A giving of stuff doesn't seem quite as hard as this gift.  Laying my heart wide and putting it into words seems tougher.  Inviting you along...even tougher.

Want to journey with an e-mail delivered to you each morning?  All you have to do is type your e-mail on the "follow by e-mail" found on this page.  In the end, on the fourteenth day, when Jesus is laid in the tomb...I am reminded that the journey is not at all about the Friday called good.  Nope, it's about the Sunday Jesus saves the world.