7: Jesus takes up his cross
STATION 7
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When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.”
They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”
“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.
Then he handed him over to be crucified.
Then they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
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The Jewish people of Jesus’s time were expecting the Messiah to come as a mighty and victorious figure. They expected their messianic king to take up a crown and throne. How unlike their messiah was Jesus, the true Messiah? Instead of taking up a crown and a thorn, He came and He took up a cross instead.
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Jesus, you exchanged your crown for thorns, and your throne for a cross. You exchange your perfect life for ours, and we are forever grateful. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
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What are some ways that you can turn your burdens into blessings? How can you apply those blessings this week?