About “The Way of the Cross”

Many Christians spend the 40 days prior to Easter preparing themselves to fully celebrate Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Lent, a period of self-examination and spiritual discipline, provides an opportunity to consider how we might lay aside our selfish ambition for participation in Christ’s life of love.

As Paul writes in Philippians 3:7-12

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Throughout this season, current and former members of the Pepperdine community are contributing reflections on Jesus’ journey to the cross. “The Way of the Cross” is a selection of scriptural stations on that journey where we might pause and consider our lives in light of Christ’s love. The stops we will make along the journey are:

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-41)
Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested (Mark 14:43-46)
Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71)
Jesus is denied by Peter (Matthew 26:69-75)
Jesus is judged by Pilate (Mark 15:1-5, 15)
Jesus is beaten and crowned with thorns (John 19:1-3)
Jesus bears the cross (John 19:6,15-17)
Jesus is helped by Simon to carry the cross (Mark 15:21)
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31)
Jesus is crucified (Luke 23:33-34)
Jesus promises his Kingdom to the thief (Luke 23:39-43)
Jesus speaks to his Mother and beloved disciples (John 19:25-27)
Jesus dies on the cross (Luke 23:44-46)
Jesus is placed in the tomb (Matthew 27:57-60)

Click here to read the journey so far.

We will continue the journey with reflections on resurrection after Easter.

May God bless us as we seek to conform our lives to Christ’s self-denying love. May God bless others as our lives are shaped as gifts for those we encounter on the journey. Feel free to contribute your reflections on this journey together.