Lenten Meditations on the Passion of Jesus

Meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ is a great way to advance spiritually. The great spiritual masters tell us that there are three levels of spirituality – The Purgative Way (beginner spirituality), the Illuminative Way (adolescent spirituality), and the Unitive Way (mature adulthood spirituality).  A lot of us are somewhere between the Purgative Way and the Illuminative Way.  In other words, we say mainly rote prayers from memory, go to Mass on Sunday, go to confession occasionally, and then we go out into the world to enjoy its many pleasures, while struggling to be good Christians. There is nothing wrong with this per se, but for those who want more, meditation on the Passion of Jesus Christ, from the Garden of Gethsemane to His death on the Cross, is one of the best ways to advance spiritually. Be sure to unite YOUR suffering with the agony of Jesus, because that way, you not only sanctify your suffering, you can offer it up for the poor souls in purgatory.

Pilate, the Jews, and Jesus

Pilate told the crowd that “He found no fault in Jesus, the Lamb of God”.  Interestingly, all Passover lambs for slaughter had to be perfect, with no blemish in them.

The Jews said about Jesus, “May His blood be on us and on our children,” as a pejorative. However, this is EXACTLY what Christians should be praying for, that the blood of Jesus should be on us and our children, forever.

While Pilate’s sign above the head of Jesus on the cross was meant to mock the Pharisees who refused to acknowledge Jesus as the King of the Jews, in reality, Pilate unknowingly declared the absolute truth about  Jesus to all generations.

The Agony in the Garden

Adam fell in a garden, so did Jesus, maybe at the same spot, 4000 years later.

In Genesis, God tells Adam that he will earn his bread by the sweat of his brow (Jesus, the Bread of Life, sweat blood).

God also says that the earth (or Adamah in Hebrew) shall bring forth thorns and thistles (Jesus wore a crown of thorns).

Saints tell us that, besides the foreknowledge of His suffering yet to come, Jesus also was in agony over all of the future people who would refuse to accept His sacrifice, and who would wind up in hell, as well as the betrayal of his friend Judas. We become like Judas when we sin.

This mystery prepares us for the sorrow of betrayal by our own loved ones, as well as the misery of depression which affects us all from time to time.

So don’t despair if you are undergoing depression. Just ask Jesus to help you with it, as he knows all about it.

The Scourging at the Pillar

This Station of the Cross is reminiscent of the Jewish slaves in Egypt being whipped by their Egyptian masters for not making the pyramids fast enough. The pyramid was a tomb for a pharaoh: Jesus, the King of Kings, was being whipped to go to his tomb.

The scourging reminds us of the sins of our flesh, mainly with lust and gluttony.

It is also reminiscent of leprosy, where the skin falls off of the diseased. In the Old Testament, leprosy was a biblical type of sin.

It is also like the pains of hell, where saints who have been there tell us that there are two devils assigned to each human – one to mock you, and one to beat you up, forever.

This mystery represents the sins of the flesh, and Jesus’ suffering for us because of them.

It also reminds us of the Eucharist, the true body and blood of Jesus. At the scourging, pieces of Jesus’ flesh came off and a lot of His blood was spilled there.

Once you realize that YOUR sins are what Jesus is being whipped for, it changes your whole perspective on the Passion. We are like the ugly (with sin) Barabbas (which means “son of the father”) because we are all set free by Christ’s suffering. The Jews indeed set free the wrong son of the father, but in doing so, it gives us all hope for the future.

The Crowning with Thorns

This Station reminds us of the ram with his head caught in a thicket, which saved Isaac from death from his father Abraham (Gen. 22:13)

It also is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden where thorns and thistles were promised to the descendants of Adam who work.

This mystery represents the sin of evil thoughts, which are the precursor to all sins.

The Carrying of the Cross

This Station reminds us of mankind’s burden of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which caused Adam and Eve’s downfall, and which mankind has been carrying around on his back for 6000 years. That tree in the Garden of Eden provided forbidden fruit which allowed damnation to enter the world.

What if Jesus’ cross was actually made from that tree?

It also reminds us of Isaac carrying the wood of his sacrifice up Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:6).

In Genesis, God created man out of the dust and blew the breath of life into him: now, man makes God fall 3 times into the dust, and then takes the breath of life out of Him.

Ask Jesus daily to help you carry your burdens. No sense going it alone! He suffered for you not only to save you from hell but also so he could help you with your suffering.

The Crucifixion

Jesus, by his sacrifice of blood, would sanctify the cross with his sacred body and blood, the symbol of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and thus turn it into the tree of life, known as the cross.

The fruit of the new tree of life known as the cross is the Eucharist, which leads us to eternal life, thus overcoming the forbidden fruit which leads to damnation.

Jesus, a carpenter who earned his living with a hammer, wood, and nails, would now die for us all, with a hammer, wood, and nails.

The Crucifixion reminds us all of our own death, and that we are to pick up our cross or suffer in the name of Jesus, and to humbly follow him to Calvary if we want to follow Him to heaven.

When Jesus said, “It is consummated,” the marriage of the bridegroom, Jesus, to His Church, was completed.

The reason that there is a skull at the base of many crucifixes is that tradition has it that Jesus was crucified over the EXACT spot of Adam’s grave.

The good thief confessed his sins to the high priest, Jesus, and received forgiveness.

Jesus told the disciple whom He loved, “Behold  YOUR mother.” We are ALL disciples of Jesus, and He loves us all. Just like Eve became the physical mother of all of the living at the foot of the knowledge of good and evil, Mary now becomes the spiritual mother of us all at the foot of the cross, the new Tree of Life, per Jesus Himself.

In Genesis 3:15, God said that “The Woman” (Mary), would crush the head of the serpent.” This was done at Golgotha, “The Place of the Skull!”

Jesus said, “I thirst.” He thirsts for the living water (John 4:7) and for your soul.

The Temple  and the Body of Jesus

Jesus said in John 2:19 – “Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will rebuild it.”  The crucifixion of his body and his resurrection three days later fulfill this prophecy. So all of the protestants who think that the big temple that Rome destroyed in 70 AD will be rebuilt are mistaken.

The rebuilt temple is the body of Jesus. This makes sense, since the Jewish temple had animal sacrifices in it, daily, and we are never going back to that. The one-time sacrifice of Jesus, present at every Mass, replaces all of that!

In the temple, the Jews would slaughter animals on the altar, and the blood would drain down into a hole in a small stream below the temple, and be carried off. The blood and water from the side of Christ, the new temple, (John 19:34) replaces that.

At new birth, both blood and water from the afterbirth are present. The blood and water from the side of Christ not only represent the Eucharist and Baptism but also the new birth of the Church.

Jesus In The Desert

While technically not a part of the Passion on Good Friday, there are some interesting parallels to be drawn with Jesus’ suffering 40 days in the desert and the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert.

The devil tested Jesus in the same way he tested the Israelites in the desert hundreds of years before:

• The Israelites worshiped a golden calf…Jesus refuses to worship satan.
• The Israelites demanded bread to eat…Jesus refused to turn the stones into bread.
• The Israelites put God to the test by demanding water and wanting to return to Egypt…Jesus refused to put God to the test by throwing Himself off of a tower.

Make your Lent the Best Ever

By taking the time to meditate on the Passion of Jesus during the day, instead of watching TV or surfing the web, you can change your life. After all, this event IS the event that saves us all from hell. What could be more important than thanking Jesus for this? Since there is no time in heaven, only eternity, when you meditate on the Passion of Jesus  TODAY and tell Him thank you, you are giving him consolation while hanging on the cross THEN. After all, He is God, and He knows everything, past, present and future.

So be aware that he was praying for you by name, from the cross 2000 years ago, and He was and is very comforted that you are remembering His great sacrifice for you. By your meditation, you are preparing yourself for your final judgment, before Jesus, who will either tell you to come on into heaven, or not.

To aid in your meditation on the Passion click HERE.