Holy Week

11 Apr 2022 • General news

The Stations of the Cross also help us to reflect on human suffering in the world today. Let’s look at station 1 so I can explain what I mean.

You might notice that the picture has an Ancient Egyptian theme. That’s deliberate, in the bible Moses helped the Jewish people escape slavery in Egypt. There are other ways people can be slaves, they can be slaves by being addicted, for example addicted to drugs, gambling or the internet.

In this Station of the Cross, the Roman governor, whose name was Pontius Pilate, is sentencing Jesus to be death by being mailed to a cross and left there till he died: we call that crucifixion. Jesus did not deserve to die, he had done nothing wrong, his death sentence was unjust. When we look at this picture, we can think of all the people who are sentenced unjustly and all the injustice in the world. An example would be Nazanin Zagari Ratcliffe who was imprisoned in Iran.

You will also see that Jesus is in chains. Christians believe that Jesus allowed himself to be captured, chained, and executed. He sacrificed himself for the good of the world. When I reflect the picture of Jesus being captured and chained, I remember sometimes we all need to sacrifice the things we want for the good of everyone.