Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
Scripture
“After these things, Pilate was asked by Joseph of Arimathea, who was, out of fear, a secret disciple of Jesus, to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body…. Now there was a garden in the place where he had been nailed to the cross, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, that was where they laid Jesus” (John 19:38, 41-42).
Meditation
Lush and green with young shoots, petals blooming
in the cool of the early spring evening
with the scent of newness on everything,
love was once again betrayed by the loved
while the birds sang and creatures stood nearby
wondering what mistake these humans
had made this time, if they would be exiled,
chased out at the edge of a flaming sword.
How, this time, had the people changed their world?
Prayer
Once we walked with you in the cool of the day, as intimate as we are with each other. But the bounty of your Garden, the joy of your presence was not enough. We wanted to be like you, to be you. You reminded us then that we are not you, but you dared to become one of us. Love risked our fractured hearts and died. Yet, instead of exile, you have offered us a renewed relationship that leads through the doorway of your tomb. Grant us, who have walked this way, courage to go further—dying to self so that we might live in you, and, again, may know what it is to walk through the garden at your side. We ask this that we might see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly. Amen.