Seventh Station: Jesus Bears the Cross (John 19: 6, 15-17)
6 When the high priests and police saw him, they shouted in a frenzy, "Crucify! Crucify!"
Pilate told them, "You take him. You crucify him. I find nothing wrong with him."
15 They shouted back, "Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!" Pilate said, "I am to crucify your king?" The high priests answered, "We have no king except Caesar." 16-19 Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.The Crucifixion They took Jesus away. Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read:
Jesus the Nazarene the King of the Jews.
Jesus bears the cross, the burdens of all of humanity, the sins of all humanity. Jesus takes the weight of the entire world upon his shoulders and walks through the town to place of his crucifixion. "Truly He has born our sorrows; truly He has born our griefs. He was chosen for us; alone He stands there for us. The sin of all of us was placed on Him."
Father God, how can I thank you for sending YOUR son, your one and only son to carry the weight of my burden, my sorrows, my griefs, my guilt, my sin? What can I do in return? What of me is of worth for such a sacrifice?