Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time
Scripture
“You see I am surrounded by dogs; all around me are wicked witnesses. They’ve dug holes in my hands and feet; I can count every one of my bones. Those same stare at me as they leave me naked. They gamble one another for my clothes” (Psalm 22:16-18).
Meditation
Gods shouldn’t sneeze in the springtime pollen
or stub tender toes on roadside rocks
causing hisses of painful exhaling
betraying the fact that they feel anything.
They must not be mired in our mundane lives
of sleep-crusted eyes and coughing-crud dawns.
What hope or help is there in god-made-man
who takes all these troubles into himself?
Prayer
Jesus, in stumbling under the weight of the cross, you revealed to us that you truly came as one of us. You, through whom all things came to be, laid it all aside to know runny noses, bed-stiff backs, and the sharp stabs of stones in your feet. That you did this for us is beyond our understanding. Yet in so doing, you have somehow made our rising up and our falling down holy. Help us see the holiness in our weakness that we might dare follow you wherever it is that you may lead. Amen.