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The Way of the Cross
By Bargil Pixner “Using
his well-founded knowledge of the
1. THE WAY OF THE CROSS TO
According So Roman law, the sentence was binding, and
executed, as a rule, directly
after its pronouncement. So Jesus was
handed over to an execution squad, which probably
consisted of a captain and four legionaries. Two other men,
both criminals, were also led out with him to be
executed (Lk
Jesus still wore the seamless white garment that he had
put on for the
Passover meal, and which, indeed, was now badly soiled and covered with bloodstains. The way
to
When
the small group arrived near the Gennath Gate, women
closed in around Jesus who mourned and wailed for him (Lk
The east-west wall of Jerusalem, which once formed the
northern boundary
of the city but in Jesus' time separated the Upper City from
the northern district, was
built along a depression called >Lateral Valley. A road followed this valley from the west
and led to the
The so-called 'Second Wall' of Jerusalem stretched from
the Gen-nath
Gate northward, and, after
a turn to the east, crossed the Tyropoeon
Valley and ended at the An ton i a Fortress. The procession
moved a short distance parallel to the outside of
this city wall. Then the execution
commander turned to the left (approximately at the site where the
2. ON
Now
the execution detachment with the three condemned men arrived at the place of
crucifixion. Three vertical stakes had been rammed down into sockets chiseled
out of the bedrock. The tips of stakes frequently ended in a crotch. Before
starting their work, the soldiers offered
Jesus an intoxicating drink, namely wine spiced with myrrh. But Jesus
refused to drink it. At
The
women and the curious onlookers were pushed back. They remained down there, in
the quarry basin, at the foot of the wall. Now the executioners set about their
cruel trade. When the women heard the sudden hammer blows coming from
The
sign board on which the >titulus> was written was fastened to the top of
the cross by one of the soldiers, who used a ladder, so that the people were
able to read it even from a distance. Below, at the
foot of the
After
the soldiers had finished their cruel work, they divided the
garments of the crucified among themselves.
While
Jesus hung on the cross, he was mocked by some of the passers-by and by
onlookers who had troubled themselves to climb
the low hill of Golgotha. Mark tells us that officials from the court of
the high priest were there as well.
The mockery was a commentary on the inscription above his head: "The
Messiah, the King of
Now
one of the criminals who hung on the cross next to him also
joined in the mocking: "Aren't you the
Messiah? Save yourself and us!"
(Lk 23:39). But the other rebuked him, then suddenly turned thoughtful and looked to Jesus: "Remember me when
you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him:
"I tell you the truth, today you will be
with
me in paradise" (Lk
The
terrible hours of agony dragged on slowly. Already the
whole body. Every time he collapsed again with
exhaustion, the terrible sequence of
collapsing and straightening himself began anew.
Mark wrote (
A
creeping sand storm approached from the neighboring wide
deserts, enveloping the whole region in a dark
cloud of dust. (In the first days of
April in the year 1994, I observed a similar natural phenomenon in Jerusalem;
the next house was barely visible through the
dense dust cloud.)
3. JESUS PRAYED
THE 22nd PSALM AND DIED
The
air was oppressive. Jesus' dimmed glance scanned the opposite city wall,
searching for the
Again
he collapsed and continued to pray. He was able to utter
only fragments of the psalm; he had no strength
left for praying continuously:
" Why are you so far from saving
me, so far from the words of my groaning? ... But 1 am a worm and not a man, scorned his men and despised by
the people..."
"My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my
tongue slicks to the roof of my
mouth..." The fourth gospel
records this in Jesus' word: "/ am thirsty"
(Jn
Some of those standing near misunderstood the first
words of the prayer:
"Eli, Eli",
or perhaps rather the last words of the eleventh
verse: "Eli ata!" (Hebrew for: You are my God; in Aramaic, it
could be understood as: Elijah,
come!), and they said: "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
- One man ran. filled a sponge with ivinc vinegar,
put it on a stick, and offered it ta
Jesus to drink,. "Leave him alone now. Let's see if Elijah comes to take
him down," he said (Mk
Slowly the dying man murmured to himself:
"Yet you brought me out of the womb; yon made me
trust in you even at
my mother's breast. From birth ] was cast upon you; from my mother's
womb you have been my Cod
(Eli ata)!" He wanted to
manifest before everybody his devotion
to God's will: "You are my God, in spite of
all!"
And there she stood, his mother, at the foot of the
cross; leaning on the arm of his favorite
disciple. She had come up the hill with the other Galilean women, when the hour
of death approached. During the period of his public activity, Jesus had not
found much time to spend with her.
Therefore, there was some tension between his natural family and the group of disciples; he himself
had suffered because of this. Here they stood now, the most faithful and
dearest representatives of both his
'families*.
His last wish was to bring them together: And he said
to his mother,
"Dear woman, here
is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is
your mother."
from that time on, this disciple took her into his own
(Jn
With a view towards eschatologic distances, he prayed
the Psalm to the
end (Ps
righteousness to a people yet
unborn -for he has
accomplished it."
This
is how the psalm ends and how the Evangelist has the dying
complete his life-work: "It is
accomplished!" With that, he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit
(Jn
Thus,
from the earliest beginnings of the Church, this 22nd Psalm has always occupied
a central place in its tradition and liturgy.
4. AFTER THE
DEATH
Jesus'
last breath had come earlier than expected. Even Pontius Pilate was surprised
to hear that the condemned man was already dead
(cf. Mk
John's Gospel considers this as a profound fulfillment
of the Scripture:
Not one of his bones will be broken (cf. Ex
As it was now getting dark on
5. THE MOOD AMONG
THE MEN AND WOMEN
WHO HAD FOLLOWED JESUS
Jesus' death had a devastating effect on the apostles.
The frame of mind
of the two disciples, who had already left Jerusalem Sunday
morning and had gone to a
village near Emmaus, was symptomatic
of the gloomy atmosphere that hung over all of them:
"With Jesus of Nazareth all is over now. Surely he was a prophet, powerful
in word and deed
before God and the people; but this end on the cross: It is
over, let's go home!"
Among
those nearest to him, rumors made the rounds about
unusual signs that show that God, after all, was behind all these horrible events: It was said that the curtain of the
Temple was torn in two from top to
bottom at the exact moment at which Jesus died (cf. Mk
15:38); yes, even the Roman captain, the
centurion, who was there when Jesus
died, professed his faith in him: "Surely this man was the
Son of God!"
(Mk 15:39). Some felt that the earth shook and
the rocks split (cf. Mt 27:51).
Others reported that "the tombs broke open and
the bodies of many holy people who had died came
out of the tombs and appeared to
people in the city" (Mt 27:52-53).
It is difficult to say which of such rumors and hearsay
that spread among
the apostles and the early community stood up to the facts.
However, one fact shone through
the gloomy picture of that fearsome
day that later came to be known as Good Friday: the
courage and the
faithfulness of the women surrounding Jesus. Already in
But the women, they were there. They stood there, at the
foot of the execution
hill
and endured the sight. Thus, these women from
6. THE BURIAL
They
sighed with relief when they saw a man of distinction coming from the Gennath
Gate with some linen shrouds under his arm. He was Joseph of Arimathea, a
member of the Sanhedrin. He had gone to Pilate and asked permission to take
Jesus' body down from the cross and to bury him. He owned one of the rock-hewn
tombs that were cut there into the walls of the former quarry, not far from
Jesus' body was taken down from the cross, anointed and
wrapped in linen shrouds. Then the
small funeral procession went down the hill
and maneuvered around the broken boulders scattered all over,
passed through a railed fence, and entered the
garden where a carpet of flowers
reminded the mourners that it was spring, Passover, and
the land was green and blossoming. They arrived
at the tomb. While the women watched, sobbing, Jesus' body was carried
down a few stone steps, through a low
square-shaped opening in the rock, into an anteroom and finally placed
in the inner room, on the bench of an arcosolium (arched tomb). Around his head
they wrapped a burial cloth.
Then the men left the tomb, rolled a big round stone in
front of the entrance to the tomb,
fastened it with wedges, and went home. By touching
the corpse, Nicodemus had become unclean performing this
last act of friendship for Jesus. He had to
immerse himself again in the ritual bath, so as to be ritually clean
that he may partake at the Passover meal with his family and to lead the Seder.
Joseph of Ari-mathea would have done the same, unless he had eaten the Passover
before, as Jesus did. Luke says about him that he was waiting for the
Just before dusk and as the Sabbath was about to begin,
the women finally tore themselves away
from the tomb. Some of them arranged to come back after the Sabbath rest to
repeat the anointing of Jesus' body, which
had been performed so hurriedly. Then evening came. It was the Night of
Passover. A solemn stillness settled over the holy city. In the houses, the
deliverance from Egyptian bondage was narrated. Only few knew about the events
on
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Presbyterian Church of the Roses |
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