Truth of the Spirit’s “Truth and Hope in the Way of the Cross” shares a hopeful and enlightening view of the Way of the Cross uniquely for you that begins with the Last Supper and travels back to Moses. Jesus encountered crying women, Veronica, Mother Mary, and the African Simon. These reveal that even in the midst of suffering, we are not alone; we are encouraged by the Lord and receive help. Following Jesus on the Way of the Cross allows us to trust God enough that we can look past any current suffering. When we fall, we too can get up, too, and keep going. When we suffer, we can keep going. We can trust God. We can look past that suffering and keep going. Patti Brunner is host of Truth of the Spirit and Living Seasons of Change.
The Church, in its mission on earth, is designed to share the Good News.
I have great news for you today: God loves you.
If you are in despair, I am speaking to you! If you are sorrowful—I am speaking to you. If you feel that your circumstances are so bad there is no way out, I am here to give you hope and understanding.
And to tell you that Christ came to earth for one purpose—to prove the Father’s love for you!
Today’s program will discuss the Way of the Cross. Many of us saw the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of Christ.” It very graphically revealed the amount of punishment Christ suffered. But long before movies were made, in fact, since the 14th century, the Church has gathered together to remember the events of the Way of the Cross. So the Way of the Cross is not something “new” just provided to us by media, but it is something that happened, really happened, two thousand years ago.
Join me now as we step into the way of the Cross. Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m Patti Brunner.
The Way of the Cross exhibits the hardships that are connected to sin. In this day, all of us seek an ease in work and living. The more ‘labor saving’ devices that are invented, the less time people seem to have. Jesus took no ‘short-cuts’ to bringing salvation to the world. His act of love was also an act of Divine Work.
Let’s start at the Last Supper. The disciples were gathered with Jesus in a friend’s Upper Room, on the other side of town, to celebrate the Jewish feast of Passover. Now, we have to understand that part of the Passover feast’s ritual and this is dictated by scripture, was to eat a lamb that had been sacrificed to God. The very first Passover in history was actually a “foreshadowing” of this Passover that Jesus celebrated.
Well, let’s go back. Twelve hundred and fifty years before Christ was born the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Moses, you know Moses: he is famous for the burning bush and the Ten Commandments and crossing the Red Sea, Moses was sent by God to set the Israelites free.
As part of getting the people set free from the Pharaoh, God had to send plagues of frogs and all sorts of things to get the Pharaoh to let the people go. The tenth and final plague that God sent upon the Egyptians was the plague of death. To protect the Israelites from the plague of death God instructed Moses to have the people take the blood of an unblemished lamb and splatter the blood on the wooden cross-beam and on the two door posts of their homes. So, this act of this blood sacrifice allowed the angel of death, sent by God, to pass on by. Pass on by–pass over, to pass over the house. But there is more than that.
Because then God instructed them to eat the rest of the lamb to complete the covenant act of sacrifice. Eating and sharing this sacrificed lamb brought relationship with God and then brought them under his protection. Just as the Israelites were set free from Egyptian slavery and death by the original lamb sacrifice, we see that Jesus, who is the perfect Lamb of God, and thus the perfect sacrifice, sets all mankind free from the slavery of sin and from eternal death.
Ok, well let’s go back to the last supper!
At the last supper, Jesus offered his disciples, and us, the chance to participate in the perfect sacrifice of the cross by eating the sacrificial Lamb. Who is the lamb? It is Jesus, it is Jesus himself. Remember as we hear the scripture: “Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples He said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Those words are repeated at every Mass. Jesus, the Lamb of God, the sacrifice, prepares us for the freedom that comes with the cross. We pray today, “Jesus, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!
You know, at the beginning of the Passion Week, the day we call Palm Sunday, Jesus seemed to enter Jerusalem in triumph, as the people shouted Hosanna! And they placed palm branches at his feet. But the leaders of the Temple, they rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They denied truth. Jealousy and narrow-mindedness closed their eyes to the truth, including the scriptures that foreshadowed his coming.
But it wasn’t just the “powers that be” who rejected Jesus. No. One of the men in his “inner circle of friends”, Judas, also rejected him. You know Judas had heard all Jesus’ teachings and saw all the miracles, yet he still betrayed and rejected Jesus. How about us? Have we rejected Jesus? Have you rejected Jesus? You know, Judas was planning this betrayal even at the moment Jesus was offering his disciples his own body and blood. So, at this moment of rejection, by Judas, Judas his close friend, this person that had been with him through all the teaching, all the miracles, at this moment of rejection Jesus was laying down his life, preparing for the blood sacrifice. Jesus knew that Judas was rejecting him. Jesus knew that the leaders were rejecting him. He knew that the people were rejecting him. But he chose to overcome rejection.
Rejection is overcome by the Blood of the Lamb.
After Jesus finished the ritual of the Last Supper, the Passover, with his disciples, he left the upper room and walked through the city and out of the gates of the wall that protected the city. He crossed a small valley and climbed a hill to a grove of olive trees that is named the Garden of Gethsemane. Even now, it still has that same name. Today, if you travel to the Holy Land and visit Jerusalem, you, too, can cross the Kidron valley and visit the Mount of Olives and even see olive trees that were growing 2000 years ago. The word Gethsemane means “olive press”. And that is because this is a place that olives were pressed to produce olive oil. Jesus wanted to spend time in prayer before he was “pressed”. He was pressed by the sin of the world.
As the soldiers moved into the garden, to arrest Jesus, well, gosh, fear caused the rest of Jesus’ close friends to run and hide and deny him, even those who accepted that Jesus was who He said He was. So we think, “Does fear ever cause me to deny Jesus?” To forget how the goodness of God is in our lives. Does fear just kind of wipe everything away for us? Does fear wipe away our faith?
After Jesus’ arrest, He was bound over for trial. Jesus was beaten severely. He was “scourged” at the pillar; scourging was a form of torture for criminals. This innocent Jesus was treated like a criminal as he took our sin upon himself. You know, at any time, Jesus could have called down his angels to rescue him. He could have opened the earth to swallow up his captors. Instead, Jesus was obedient, obedient to the Father, obedient even unto death.
So, the crowds, who had followed Jesus, asking for healing and miracles, and caught on his every word, following him, perhaps hoping to be fed again, like the 5000 who were miraculously fed by the twelve loaves of bread and the two small fish, these crowds were now replaced by a mob who clamored for his death! Even as Jesus was being rejected, he was rejected by the “church” leaders and his friends, now he is being rejected by strangers, he is rejected by government authorities. While he was doing this, he was accepting their sin and ours so as to overcome all rejection by the Blood of the Lamb.
You know, the trial of Jesus shows that the judgement of the world—by those in clear authority and by us in our daily walk —can be wrong, wrong, wrong! How often do we misjudge the actions of others?
Jesus took upon himself the sin of the world. He also took the punishment of sin: suffering and death. Consider the effect of the first sins. The first sin of the angels, the sin of pride, caused the formation of hell and demons. Man’s first sin of disobedience, seems like a little sin—disobedience—but it was so huge that it separated man from God spiritually. That “not so little” sin has brought death and suffering into the human condition.
But Jesus is always showing us the Way to freedom. He is showing us the way to life. His trial shows us that our leaders, who are meant to guard and guide us, can make judgments, choices, which are opposite to God’s way. The high priest, the king, and the prelate all used their personal opinion rather than wisdom. They had their concern on how events would affect them personally rather than the true consequences of their actions. You know if the people in charge can make mistakes in judgements, so can we.
Jesus shows us how to keep going in the Way, even when those around us are making mistakes.
Jesus picked up his cross; a cross formed by our sins, and carried it in public, to acknowledge the sin of the world and the suffering caused by sin.
As Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, carrying the cross, he had several encounters. Most of them were with women. He met the crying women of Jerusalem. Scripture tells that that He spoke to them and told them to cry for themselves and their children—instead of him.
How often do we cry out in our emotion, when, if the truth be fully known, the circumstances would be totally different? How often do we just sit and cry about our situation that seems hopeless, instead of asking God to help us? To help us to see the good that will come from it, and praising him for allowing us to get through it, covered in grace.
Jesus meeting Veronicais not in scripture but has long been known, as a station of the cross, in the tradition of the Catholic Church, the Christian tradition. Her boldness in approaching Jesus, to offer him comfort, stands alone as a shining example of the boldness Jesus calls us to, to address the needs of others, no matter how high the cost. The soldiers could have turned their fury and sadistic meanness on her. If she had weighed the consequences, the logical side probably would have told her to mind her own business. But Veronica’s love and servant’s heart won out. You know: “Be foolish for the Lord.” She stepped forward and offered her own veil for Jesus to use to wipe the blood from his eyes. And tradition tells us that, to honor her action, the Lord left an imprint of his face on her veil. How, too, the Lord wants to leave his imprint on us!
There was another woman in the crowd. Tradition tells us Christ met his mother. Mary had been prepared for the cross, but how difficult it must have been for her to see her child suffering so. There is such love in motherhood! Mary, the mother of God, was surely drawn by love to comfort Jesus, to watch him as he carried his cross through the crowds.
Just as the mother of Christ did not abandon her son, no matter how bad the circumstances, “Mother Church” will not abandon us. History has shown us some ups and downs in the Church, but it is always there, it is always there ready to comfort us, to walk with us as we follow the Way of the Jesus.
Not many who were gathered that day to watch Jesus were there out of love. Some were curious; I think some probably just got caught up in the commotion. The Bible tells us that Simon happened to be passing by, coming in from the country. The Scripture explains to us that he was from a town in northern Africa. Now, did he stand out in the crowd because he his skin was a different color? Why was he there? Was Simon arriving for the Passover celebration? Or was he just at the wrong place at the right time? Simon was pressed into service, helping Jesus to carry the cross and Jesus accepted his help. Do we have to be forced into helping others? And, how do we accept help from those who don’t even know us?
So, we have the crying women, Veronica, mother Mary, the African Simon: What does Jesus teach us through each of these encounters?
Each of these encounters reveals that even in the midst of suffering, we are not alone, we are encouraged by the Lord and receive help. We are not alone. We receive his compassion. We receive compassion from others.
But the journey continues, even as we are joined by others.
You know, Jesus fell several times. Scripture doesn’t talk about the falling but in our Stations of the Cross we relate three times. Saints who have had visions of the moment say he fell at least seven times. But the important thing is that each time, it doesn’t matter how many times he fell, but each time he had the opportunity to ‘call it off’ but he didn’t, he kept going. Jesus got up. He got up to endure my sin, your sin, each man’s sin; suffering so that, once and for all, death–eternal death–could be overcome.
What kept Jesus going? In spite of the intense pain? His obedience to the will of the Father. Jesus substituted his obedience for our disobedience.
Check out Romans chapter five. Verse 19 says: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” [Romans 5:19]
By the obedience of Jesus unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution. He became our “stand-in”. He knew we couldn’t handle it, so he allowed himself to be the offering, the atonement, for our sin. And so he got up and he kept going.
Obedience unto death restored the kingdom on earth; his obedience restored man’s connection. Jesus, the Man, reconnected man to God, and his obedience restored man’s relationship of trust.
Following Jesus allows us to trust God enough that we can look past any current suffering. When we fall, we too can get up, too, and keep going. When we suffer, we can keep going. We can trust God. We can look past that suffering and keep going. So, Jesus kept going, Jesus kept going all the way to Calvary.
Death on a Cross was the ‘ordinary’ death, or way to execute criminals, during the time of Christ. It was painful and shameful. It very publicly displayed your crime. Similar to the electric chair of modern times, it was a punishing tool of fear to discourage crime against the Romans.
However, in the Old Testament, God revealed the power that would come from this death on the cross that was so fearful, when He directed the actions of Moses to foreshadow it. Remember, Moses lived about 1200 years before the crucifixion.
After Moses brought the people of Israel out of slavery out of Egypt, he brought “about six hundred thousand men”, plus their families, on foot out of Egypt. Exodus 12:37 At first they were glad to be free from slavery, but as they spent time on the road in the desert, but they were not happy campers. Over and over they forgot God’s mighty works and they started complaining. They complained about the food, they complained about the water, they complained about everything! They were hungry and thirsty and their focus was on that! They wouldn’t or couldn’t remember God’s goodness. They couldn’t remember the miracles, they couldn’t remember that God loved them, they could not trust God anymore. Then, after they kept grumbling, they ran into an area infested with deadly snakes. As if things couldn’t be bad enough that there is not enough to eat or drink, now people were dying left and right as they were being bitten by these snakes! Moses, who did trust God, repented to God. He repented to God for all their complaining and asked for relief.
That’s when God told Moses to do something a little strange. He told him to make a bronze model of the snake, mount it on a pole, and raise it up high so every one who had been bitten by a deadly snake could look at it. You know, probably the last thing these people wanted to look at was a model of the snake that had just bitten them, but as the people would look at this scary image, they would get well!
So, Jesus is explaining to us, in the Gospel of John, that, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so too must Jesus, himself, be lifted up, on his pole, the cross. Jesus loves us, and he was willing to allow himself to be lifted up, on the cross, so that our death could be overcome.
The Church has always taught that Jesus’ violent death was not the result of chance or coincidence, but it is part of the mystery of God’s plan. St. Peter explained this to the Jews of Jerusalem in his very first sermon
on Pentecost after receiving the “fire” of the Holy Spirit.
As the cross is displayed for all to see the Crucifixion, the foreshadowing voice of Moses echoes through the ages telling us: Look upon that thing which we fear most. Look at the cross to see death, see the suffering and no longer be afraid of either. As we join Jesus in accepting the cross, death and suffering is overcome; they no longer have ‘power’ over us. We are set free.
Scripture tells us that as Christ died, the curtain in the temple was “rent.” It was torn top to bottom. Now, this curtain was the curtain that was hung to separate the most sacred section of the temple, called the Holy of Holies from the outer ministering area of the temple. This area of the temple could only be entered by the High Priest, once a year, on the Feast of Atonement. Originally, this section, this Holy of Holies, housed the Ark of the Covenant that held the Ten Commandments that were first issued to Moses. At the time of Christ, the Ark, itself, was long gone but the veil remained, as a symbolic barrier between the divine God and the common man. As Jesus completed his goal to rejoin us with the Father, the ripping of the thick curtain signified the end of the barrier. One man’s sin separated us from God; one man’s obedience reconnected us. The obedience of Jesus, even unto death on the cross, tore apart the barrier caused by sin.
After Jesus was taken down from the cross, his body was placed in the tomb. There is no doubt that he was dead. The tomb was sealed and the Roman officials sent guards to stand watch. Placing the corpse into the tomb reminds us that this life is fleeting; it is given up to the Father to be surrendered—totally and completely.
Why did Jesus have to die? His death conquered sin. His death brought life. The Church has always taught the importance of the Cross. St. Paul taught the Corinthians that “Christ died for our sins in accordance to the scriptures”. CCC 19, 1 Cor 15:3
In the year 325 the Church established the Nicene Creed to clearly profess what we believe. We believe that “for our sake Jesus Christ was crucified died and was buried”.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, one of my favorite saints, one of the Church Fathers, was born that same year, 325, and he teaches us that Jesus Christ became “in his person,
the meeting place for death and life”. CCC 625. Isn’t that beautiful! That Jesus Christ in his body, in his person, in his humanness, in his Godliness, became the meeting place for death and life.
Several hundred years down the road, starting in 1545 and ending in 1563, the Council of Trent, sat down the teachings of the Church to clearly restate all the teachings of the Church, much the same way as Vatican II has done. The catechism that came from that was called the Roman Catechism. The Council of Trent “emphasizes the unique character of Christ’s sacrifice as the source of eternal salvation, and it teaches us that his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for all of us.” CCC 617.
50 years after the Council of Trent, St. Rose of Lima, Peru, who is the first American saint, she told us in her writings that:
Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.458 CCC618
So there we have it: In Jesus, through Jesus, by Jesus! Obedience to the Father, surrendering self—even to death on a cross–and abiding in the promises of the Kingdom –opens the door for all people as death—eternal death was conquered.
You can read more about the Passion of Christ in the Bible in the last few chapters of each of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Look for more details in Hebrews, Revelation, and 1 Corinthians. Look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the keyword “cross” and in the Apostles Creed, where: JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED, AND WAS BURIED CCC 595-623
For a copy of references used in this broadcast, check the website patriarchministries.com You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit, I’m Patti Brunner. We suggest you subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel. And check out our blog of this episode and others. On PatriarchMinistries.com and then, come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
