If you have some familiarity with the Stations of the Cross, you might immediately say: ‘that sounds very Roman Catholic…and hardly relevant to Lutherans.’ That, in some sense, might be very true. The Stations of the Cross never made it into Protestant devotion in the days of Martin Luther or, for that matter, henceforth into our Lutheran church. Five hundred years ago, there was good reason, too!

Recently our church council had its annual retreat in the conference room of St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Bean Street in downtown Los Gatos. While there to pick up the conference room key, I spent some quiet, prayerful time in the sanctuary where, yes, I spotted the traditional Stations of the Cross displayed on wall plaques all around the pews. The fourteen traditional Stations of the Cross, I must say, were artistically beautiful. When I also checked out devotional literature in the sanctuary, I discovered that those Stations of the Cross will also soon become quite important as parishioners observe Lent and Holy Week. Several times during Lent, worship will take place in the sanctuary and follow…step by step…the Stations of the Cross. On Good Friday, between noon and three in the afternoon, members of St. Mary’s will spend significant time moving physically and devotionally from Station to Station until all fourteen have been visited and given time for prayer and reflection.

Granted, Protestants have traditionally been less than receptive to the Stations of the Cross since the 16th century, and again I say, for good reason. How come Lutherans, for example, found the Stations of the Cross troublesome? Did not our Lord himself commend his followers to “come after him,” and “take up the cross daily and follow?” See Luke 9: 23, if you wonder about the source of those words. And in 14th and 15th centuries the Stations of Cross gained much popularity throughout Western Europe, but sadly not without one critical theological problem. What, you may wonder, might that be? No sooner did the Stations of the Cross become very popular from Spain to Germany than the issue of gaining some spiritual ‘merit’ by walking the Stations of the Cross became sadly entangled. Yes, if you might follow the Stations of the Cross, one might get an Indulgence, or some kind of remission of sin on account of the effort. Obviously, that found little favor with Luther and Protestants to the point that the Stations of the Cross pretty much went out the door along with the real problem: Indulgences or the offering of some kind of spiritual merit, if the Stations of the Cross might be followed.

In our days, that old theological problem has thankfully pretty much faded, but also happily with the possibility that the old traditional Stations of the Cross might indeed be taken up anew in order to enhance modern Lenten devotion and our observance of Holy Week. A good idea, I personally think.

In this regard, I must clearly admit that I am not alone. One author I read recently made this statement: “In the last 35 years, Lutherans have gradually found the Stations match well with our traditional Lutheran piety.” Even more, ‘evangelical Protestants” have ‘rediscovered’ the value of the Stations of the Cross, especially in Good Friday worship.
So, might I explore with you in this March/Lenten Voice of Faith how indeed you and I might bring new attention to the Stations of the Cross? Right away you may ask: ‘where, pastor, is there really any precedent within the Bible that might lend support to the practice?’ Let me suggest that there is one most interesting passage that was written by Luke in his account of Good Friday and the events leading up to Calvary Hill. In Luke 23: 26-28 the gospel narrates these events:

“As they led Jesus away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed, including women who mourned and wailed for Jesus.”

Notice carefully how Luke carefully gives special attention to devout disciples who indeed apparently remembered the earlier words of our Lord to “take up the cross and follow” (Luke 9:23) and, then, actually walked with our Lord along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrow, on the way through old Jerusalem out to Calvary Hill. Who, though, way back in Luke 9:23 might have really envisioned that that invitation to ‘take up the cross’ and ‘follow’ would soon take on such profound significance in terms of the Lord who would be ‘followed’ physically by the faithful through old Jerusalem out to Calvary Hill? That the faithful actually walked with our Lord behind Simon of Cyrene and the cross thus set for all time a spiritual precedent for, yes, the Stations of the Cross.

When I was in Jerusalem in May 1984, our visit to the old city of Jerusalem included a long, long walk through alleyways, bazaars and narrow streets from the traditional site of the Antonia Fortress where our Lord met with Pontius Pilate to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where, it is believed, our Lord was crucified, his body anointed for burial and finally laid to rest at a site nearby. All along the way in the course of our walk, we paused fourteen times at traditional Stations of the Cross. At each site, a marker was posted, typically on a wall, with numbers indicating at what Station we were situated in our walk. Other groups had an individual physically carry a cross that surely witnessed to the bystanders we met along the way what we Christians were up to! Not an average stroll or walk through Jerusalem, to say the least! Personally, I would not trade that particular experience of the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem for a trip to Tahiti or a new car. In Jerusalem, the Stations of the Cross became so real that I can well understand why in the 14th and 15th centuries pilgrims coming back from the Holy Land began to create Stations of the Cross whereby faithful in Europe might begin to appreciate anew the Passion of our Lord and become closer to the biblical narratives and old Jerusalem by similarly walking the Stations of the Cross.

In our modern times, the Stations of the Cross have taken immense strides forward with the Internet! In this regard, the year 1997 bears major significance when the Roman Catholic Church in Australia brought for the first time the Stations of the Cross into computers in our homes through the Internet. With the Internet, it thus became possible for anyone to visually take the very walk I had taken back in 1984, pray prayers that an Internet site provided and thus experience anew the Stations of the Cross.

Still more interesting is how certain universities and colleges in our days have begun to pick up on the Stations of the Cross during Lent and Holy Week with the hope to help new generations experience the events we will soon remember during Holy Week at Faith Lutheran.