"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?" (Lamentations 1:12)
When Jesus was tried by Pilate and executed, there was nothing uncommon in such a method of
execution, and the Roman officials had no hesitancy in condemning criminals to such a death. If
this was, indeed, the path that led from Pilate's palace to a common place of crucifixion, the sight
of the condemned passing by with their crosses would not have struck anyone as remarkable.
Life would have carried on with very little comment indeed, whether or not one of the convicts
should stumble as they made their way to the place of execution.
Today in Jerusalem, as pilgrims walk the Way of the Cross, there are still many, both within
Jerusalem and without, for whom this is unremarkable and irrelevant. Much of the Via Dolorosa
falls outside the area of old Jerusalem known as the Christian quarter, and the plight of Jesus, and
of his followers is of no concern to the many Muslims going about their daily routine. Do we
take note when those around us stumble? Are we capable of being startled by the cross as it
passes us by?
Reprinted with permission of Dominic Barrington and Paul Kennington.
When Jesus was tried by Pilate and executed, there was nothing uncommon in such a method of
execution, and the Roman officials had no hesitancy in condemning criminals to such a death. If
this was, indeed, the path that led from Pilate's palace to a common place of crucifixion, the sight
of the condemned passing by with their crosses would not have struck anyone as remarkable.
Life would have carried on with very little comment indeed, whether or not one of the convicts
should stumble as they made their way to the place of execution.