Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross were a different experience for me this year. Usually when we do the Stations of the Cross it is the same thing, just going over every station over and over. I usually don’t think too deep into them. I didn’t think about how much emotion there would have been. I didn’t think about the agonizing pain Jesus was in. I didn’t realize how much he had done for us by dying on the cross. It’s incredible how much I have missed out while doing the stations. Now I realize how crazy all of it was. Now, I can feel the emotion everyone felt actually being there with Jesus while he took his last steps and breaths for us.

This year, by doing the live Stations of the Cross and being the ones to play it out, they hit me hard. I got to understand the pain and emotion that went on when Jesus actually died. Seeing “Jesus” dead on the cross made me cry. With the music and all of it put together, it made it a lot more emotional. I have never cried during the Stations of the Cross. I had tears running down my face, and I was sniffling. I didn’t even realize how much it overtook me. It was a new experience. It was emotional to be there watching it all play out. I think that the eighth graders felt more emotion during them because we understood more of what was happening. To be able to act out the stations, we had to understand who we were and how it all affected us. I think seeing a good friend you have known for many years be the one to “die” on the cross made it more realistic to us too. Two thousand years ago, people that saw Jesus make his walk to his death for us were close to Him. Some were closer than others. But they actually knew Jesus. They were friends and even family with Him. Some of them saw Him grow up from a baby and then they had to see Him die. It made it more real to me, and maybe others, to have your friend be the one to die on the cross. It made it seem like we were really losing someone that we see almost every day, and that, personally, was what made it different for me.