Station 5: Jesus dies on the cross | "A Word from the Cross: Luke 23:44-49" - by Jordan Jarvis

The sky was dark. It should have been light, but the sun's light failed. I could see him... or more I could see a limp, mangled body clothed in blood. The centurion, the crowd, people who praised him only days before now threw their insults and mockery in his beaten face. Three hours passed, and he still hung there. Why? I thought. Why would they do this to you? Don't they know who you are? A knot twisted in my stomach. Hot tears stung my eyes. I closed them, no longer able to look at all that surrounded me.

Stillness.

Darkness.

A loud noise pierced the air. The curtain of the temple was torn in two. I looked to the cross.

"Abba," he said. I could hear him.

He cried, "Into your hands I commit my spirit!"

And he was gone.

I could see the centurion and all the crowd wail in realization at what just happened. They beat their breasts and went home.

The guards pierced his side. I flinched at the flow of blood that rushed from his body. "Rabboni," I breathed. We stood at a distance, all his acquaintances and my fellow women who followed him from Galilee, and we watched the death of Yeshua.



"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:1-4, ESV)

Let us not grow weary. Let us not grow fainthearted. Some days life seems more than we can bear. Our burdens weigh heavy on our hearts and minds. The enemy of our soul whispers lies designed to discourage and destroy. Yet Jesus showed us the beauty of persevering through tribulation. He gives us a promise to be our strength. Our part is simply to keep our eyes on Him. When life would bow our heads in shame, Christ lifts our heads and says, "Do not grow weary, I am here."

Yeshua did not consider the shame of the cross, but for the joy set before him he endured, and he is risen. Therefore, let us look to the cross today. Go into a quiet space, just you and the Spirit, and enter a time of reflection and prayer. Consider what Christ endured, what his disciples witnessed, and how his final hours changed your life.