The Thirteenth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Matthew 27:45-46, 50 — “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And Jesus, uttering a loud cry, yielded up his spirit.”

“This is paradoxically Jesus’ hour of glory and his hour of emptying out all that he is in love and in mercy, for us — for all of us, enemies and friends, pulled together into the unity of God. This is life and death that is filled with grace and power for those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear what is happening. The impossible is happening — God is dying with us and for us and into us so that we will live and not die the death of sin and evil… Jesus dies, and something happens, and the world will never be the same again.

– Megan McKenna, “The New Stations of the Cross,” p. 101, 103

Art: Woodcut by Sadao Watanabe, Japanese, 1965

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