Station 4: Jesus is stripped of his clothes | "The Sound of Pure Grace" - by Janet Calhoun

The first Christian music I purchased was Sandi Patti’s Finest Moments. It was the first time I heard the song "Via Dolorosa." After listening to it, I wept. I wept because I felt true sacrificial love for the first time. After nearly twenty years, Ms. Patti’s anointed voice can still transport me to the streets of Old Jerusalem where I was blessed to walk that same road.

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
The man condemned to die on Calvary

Those narrow streets are so very narrow and the stone so hard and cold. I can feel the angry crowd and the tension of the soldiers trying to clear the road so the three condemned men can reach the city gate.

He was bleeding from a beating
There were stripes upon his back
And he wore a crown of thorns upon his head
And he bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for his death

Stumbling to the ground, the cross he is dragging falls to the side. Unable to pick it up again, the soldiers force a man from Cyrene to carry the cross to the top of the hill.

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem

Lamenting women following the drops of blood, crying tears of pity, are stunned as this broken man, even now, speaks truth to their souls.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
And he chose to walk that road

He chose this? He chose to walk down this road...why would someone do this?

Out of his love for you—and me
Down the Via Dolorosa all the way to Calvary

And I weep all over again. No one has ever loved me to the point of such sacrifice. No one except God. That love is overwhelming; it is consuming, and it draws me in so close. My heart breaks when I can hear the scorns, see the clenched fists, feel the sin. The sin He is taking on for me...for us.

He is stripped and I turn away unable to endure any more. The sound of hammering wood penetrates my core before the silence. And then, the sound of pure grace…

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34, KJV).

Selah.


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"Via Dolorosa" was written by Billy Sprague and Niles Borop and published by Meadowgreen Music Company/Word Music, LLC. Sandy Patti first released her version of the song in her album Songs from the Heart (1984).

Source for lyrics used here: “Via Dolorosa Chords and Lyrics.” Kidung.com, 25 Mar. 2010, www.kidung.com/2010/03/25/via-dolorosa-chords-and-lyrics/.