Ninth Station ~ Jesus Falls the Third Time

Ninth Station 

Ninth Station  St. Emma Monastery

Jesus Falls the Third Time

As they approach the foot of the Mount Calvary the suspense reaches its climax: 

If he is going to work a miracle, he must do it now.

 If he is going to show that, after all, if he IS what he claims to be, the Son of God, 

the moment has come for him to prove it.

It is not only those who fear and hate Him who are in suspense; 

the whole multitude watches Him, holding its breath,

 waiting to see what Jesus of Nazareth is going to do now. 

They wait, straining forward, 

struggling to come near to Him, 

breathless with suspense, 

some through fear, 

some through hope; 

all tense, expectant, awaiting!

And what does He do? For the third and the last time, Jesus falls under the cross!

This is the worst fall of all. It comes at the worst moment of all. It tears open all the wounds in His body; the shock dispels the last ounce of strength that He had mustered to go on. It shatters the last hope the last remnant of faith, in nearly everyone in the crowd. It is triumph for His enemies, heartbreak for His friends.  

He chooses to indwell those who seem to fail, 

those who fall again and again, those who seem to be overcome even when the end is in sight. 

In them, if they will it, He abides;in them He overcomes weakness and failure, 

in them He triumphs; and in 

His power they can persevere to the end,

 abject before men but glorious with Christ's glory before God.

The Way of the Cross  by Caryll Houselander