We fall with Jesus
Our 13-year-old son has artistic talent and, when the spirit moves him, he creates drawings or fancy script. One Lenten season when he was much younger, he decided that he was going to illustrate his own Way of the Cross. After drawing several Stations, he began to notice a pattern in how Jesus fell, so he decided to come up with his own condensed version of the story: He would combine the Third, Seventh and Ninth Stations into one called “Jesus falls a lot.”
Our son is intentionally and unintentionally funny, but he was able to see the repetition in how Jesus struggled on the Via Dolorosa. After a scourging, Jesus had to carry his own cross to Golgotha. He bore the exhaustion and the humiliation of the journey for our sins. He fell and, each time, he collected Himself and continued along the arduous journey. Simon the Cyrene who helps Him carry the cross, the woman who wipes his face and the women suffering with Him are the only angels of mercy ministering to Jesus on his journey.
We fall, too, when we sin. We may encounter our own Simons or Veronicas who render aid, but it’s up to us to get up and continue to journey through our own volition. It’s too easy to fall into self-destructive patterns where we give up, we harden our hearts or refuse to get up.
If we follow the example of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, we continue on our journey–falling and getting up “a lot,” as my son put it. We continue and do not consent to be crushed by the crosses we are forced to carry. We may be as physically and mentally exhausted as Jesus, but we fail to follow his example when we give in to despair.
In the Fourteenth Station, Jesus is laid in the tomb. Beyond the Way of the Cross is the glory of the Resurrection and so it is with us, too. After our Calvaries, we can hope to rise with the Son in glory. Our crosses will be the price we paid for our redemption.
Like Jesus on Calvary, we fall a lot. Our mission should be to get up each time with our purpose renewed and our hearts cleansed. Easter can live in us all year long if we let it.
