Station 12 – Jesus Dies on the Cross
“Into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Hunger. Thirst. Happiness. Sadness. Anger. Delight. Health. Pain. Friendship. Betrayal. Birth. Death.
Jesus deeply connects to what it means to be human. Whether one lived in the first century or lives in the twenty-first century, being human is full of ups and downs, unexpected detours and sudden stops. Jesus embodies the fullness of humanity.
The cross represents for us the fullness of the human experience and gathers up every emotion, every aspect of a life lived in a broken, sinful world. The cross is the unwavering, unrelenting, unyielding hardness that squeezes our hearts with sorrow, that steals our breath little by little, that drains us, as we watch helplessly, of the life we hold dear.
Jesus surrenders his own life to the hard wood of the cross. Jesus offers his very own self on the cross to give us hope in the midst of all that might cause us despair. Out of the soil of sorrow and fear will sprout a new life, a resurrection life. But first Jesus must surrender to the cross, must commend his very own spirit to the care of his loving, faithful Father.
We who walk the way of the cross, who are followers of Christ Jesus, also are called to surrender our very selves to the cross. We do so trusting that as we commend our own lives, our own spirits, over the the care of our Loving God we will experience glimpses of the resurrection life that Jesus has promised, indeed, that Jesus has victoriously claimed for us by destroying death by his death thereby ushering us into newness of life in him.
As we draw near the end of our Lenten journey with Jesus we are invited to commend, to surrender, our very deepest selves to God trusting that we will experience abundant joy. Joy that strengthens us in our weakness, that promises life in the face of death. Joy which calls and sends us out into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ victory over death once and for all.
-Fr. Ram Lopez