As we continue our journey through the Stations of the Cross, the next two are ones that we may not think as important as others. However, these two are still worth contemplation and reflection, every bit as the ones that seem even more important, especially as we get closer to the final stations.

The ninth station: Jesus falls for the third time

When we reach this station, it can be easily glossed over, as we have already reflected on the first two falls of Jesus. What more can be said? But that is way too much of a human perspective. We can get frustrated by repetition, especially when it comes to our sins. Sometimes when we realize just how often we sin in the same way, we can shrug it off and say that we can’t help it or that it’s just the way we are. What we are doing is giving up. Other times we may be so frustrated with ourselves that we think that God cannot forgive us yet again. Both attitudes are incorrect. 

The way of the cross only identifies three times that Jesus fell. But was that really the total amount? He was weak from the beatings, the loss of blood, the crown of thorns, walking to the crucifixion site while carrying the wooden beam or cross that He was to be nailed to. The road, even if it was paved in stones, may not have been very smooth, and certainly was not flat. Jesus definitely stumbled many times, and fell at least three times and perhaps more. His mission at this point is to become our Savior by dying and rising again. He fell, but He didn’t give up on us. Neither should we give up on His mercy, no matter how many times we fall into the same sin. That’s what confession is for; so that we can stand up again and learn to be mindful of what leads us into the same sin and try to avoid it. 

This third fall is a call to penetrate deep into our hearts and souls and to examine what separates us from a full relationship with God. What are the sins, even those that are minor, that have become habitual? It is these that we take to the third fall of Jesus and ask for forgiveness and mercy to help us do better in the future.

The tenth station: Jesus is stripped of His clothes

While the Gospels mention the soldiers casting lots for his garments, it skips over the obvious. Jesus is stripped of the last of His human dignity: His clothing. It may not seem like much, but it, too, is torturous for Jesus. Anyone who has had a bandage stuck to an open wound knows that it hurts when pulled off. After the severe beating Jesus had at the hands of the professional Roman soldiers, Jesus’ body would have been full of open and still bleeding wounds. Ones that His garments would stick to because they acted as bandages for Him. 

Since Jesus was going to die soon anyway the soldiers would have no incentive to remove His clothing gently. Yes, they were going to gamble for it, but that doesn’t mean having a full garment intact would be worth more. Perhaps garments won by the soldiers were considered their trophies and the competition was for who had the most. The soldiers didn’t care how Jesus felt when they removed His clothes. Perhaps in removing them quickly it was a mercy to Jesus. Or did the executioners know the pain in removing the clothes and did it slowly to cause more agony?

While depictions of Jesus on the cross always include a loin cloth for decency, the prevailing thought is that Jesus was naked on the cross. When we go to confession, do we bare our souls naked to Jesus? Do we confess all our sins, even those we would prefer not to admit or that have become a habit? 

Jesus willingly gave up His life, and in doing so, allowed Himself to the indignities of being treated as a criminal. He did that so that we could be forgiven and return to a relationship with God. There is no detail in Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection that does not have meaning. Jesus willingly accepted it all for the love of us. Let us return the love by contemplating on the details of cross, even those that can seem repetitive and minor.