Pilate condemns Jesus to death
a young slave
“I was a slave in Pilate’s household in Jerusalem. There were lots of people there, jostling and pushing, and over to one side were the Jewish priests, keeping themselves separate. Pilate wanted some water and I was sent for it. I brought in a bowl and a towel and he dipped his hands in the bowl and dried them on the towel. That’s what I remember. Then Pilate said, ‘Take him away and crucify him!’ Only then did I see him — standing, shackled in front of Pilate. I wondered what he had done.”
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you were condemned to death for political expediency:
be with those who are imprisoned for the convenience of the powerful.
You were the victim of unbridled injustice:
change the minds and motivations of oppressors and exploiters
to your way of peace.
To you, Jesus, innocent though condemned,
be honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
Amen.
illustration: from a wood-engraving by Eric Gill, 1917
Dear Simon, many thanks.
As Holy Week begins today, what a splendid idea of Thinking Anglicans to publish the first in a series of Stations of the Cross, thus reminding us that we in the Church of England are a Catholic Church as well as a Reformed Church and an increasingly Evangelical Church. Are these beautiful Eric Gill Stations the prototype drawings for his Stations of the Cross in Westminster’s Roman Catholic Cathedral?
If I recall correctly, Gill made these engravings after he had carved the Stations in Westminster. They were a means of sharing them more widely, and were among his earliest wood engravings.
Thank you, Thinking Anglicans, for these beautiful Reflections for Holy Week.
Can we please have a Holy Week (and Stations) w/o anymore “reminders” of church politics? *kthxblessbye*
Thanks for bringing us those lovely woodcuts of Eric Gill, I had forgotten them.