Jesus falls a second and a third time
Not only was Jesus sentenced to die on the cross
but he was also tasked to carry the cross the soldiers would later use to kill him.
His journey up to the place called Golgotha was not meant to be easy.
Under the burden of the cross Jesus becomes exhausted
and falls a total of three times.
The cross Jesus carried is not unlike crosses we all carry;
however, ours may not be a physical wooden cross.
We all end up carrying crosses,
whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or socially,
just as Jesus did.
Sometimes these crosses can make us fall repeatedly
just as Jesus did.
As an adult, I often feel I should have conquered my weaknesses by now.
I become discouraged when I’m confronted by the same problems over and over again. Sometimes I get weary. When I have health problems, I can become discouraged and depressed.
Help me think of the cross you, Lord Jesus, carried.
Help me continue to hope that I can make the changes in my life I need to.
You didn’t give up. Give me the strength to get up again as well.
Does Jesus feel the same bleak sense of desolation when he falls again?
He knows too well that this weakness is capitulation to a human frailty.
No divinity coursing through his veins gives his muscles the lift He needs.
He falls and the dull pain, that comes when one sees surrender,
surges over him, envelopes him.
The gladiator, stumbling to his last fight,
the athlete, when the stabbing pain makes defeat seem sweeter than victory,
the patient, succumbing to a terminal disease,
all who taste the bitterness of hopelessness, the collapse of perseverance,
know that He, falling for the second and third time, shares their despair.
Is there nothing too low for him to stoop to?
How many times do we feel the weight of grief, sadness, fear, hopelessness, betrayal, embarrassment, or pain? Do I recognize you, Jesus, in the kindness of others?
In the wonders of nature? In all the gifts you have given me?
You reach for my hand when I fall. Do I notice?
When someone loses their job, their loved one,
their psychological stability, their worldly status, their health...
do I reach out my hand and show them your unfailing love?
We trust too often in our own strength.
We believe, too rashly, that we can manage.
It is an arrogance.
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