Via Dolorosa

  Good Friday is important for us to remember so we never forget what transpired on that day. We know our lord and savior Jesus Christ suffered a terrible fate on that day, but all of humanity reaped the benefits of his sacrifice. It is called Good Friday not because of the suffering, but because humanity was offered salvation and the right to eternal life. Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa. The Via Dolorosa is a Latin term for the way of grief or way of suffering. It also has Christian origins in that it is a real street within the old city of Jerusalem. It is the sacred path our lord and savior had to walk as he carried the cross to his crucifixion. Today as I think about the dark and burdensome task our lord had to accomplish on that day I am reflective. I am reflective about the fact that the bible says's in Matthew 7: 13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

 This would certainly hold true for our lord and savior on that day over two thousand years ago. The Dolorosa was a road that no one else could walk to accomplish what God had predestined for our world, yet Jesus had to walk it to his destruction to offer up Gods salvation plan for every human being that has ever lived on this earth. It is sad, unfortunate and true, that everyone who is not saved and committed to living a secular life without Christ is presently walking their own Dolorosa, Some of you might be asking how so? You are walking your own Dolorosa, because first of all a life on this earth apart from Christ is diminished in its capacity to be fruitful, I am talking about fruitful from the aspect of those things that will last and those things that are temporary. Only what you do for Christ will last, and the fact that some people choose to live their lives as if God does not exists does not negate the fact that he is real. so you can obtain all the money, power, wealth and influence that this world has to offer but it is only temporary, it will not last. If you are finding that hard to believe think of it this way. If not for the fact that we have the earths history recorded by historians and scholars, we would have no idea or thoughts about the people who lived on earth prior to our own arrival. We can recount history through the written word and photographic evidence because someone preserved it for us. Most of us live in homes that at some point in time someone else lived in and yet we don't know their names or faces, and for the average person once the genealogy of their family line reaches 40 or 50 years those relatives are no longer mentioned or remembered. This is a fact.

  Right now at this very present moment the earth, the planets, the stars and the heavens are headed down its own Dolorosa. For most of us our lives seem to be OK, yet it is unmistakable the amount of human suffering we witness on the planet everyday. It is estimated that during World War II anywhere from 55 to 72 million people were killed. For any human being to have to die at the hands of another human being is a Dolorosa. A very recent example of this would be the tragic death of Trayvon Martin to George Zimmerman for fitting into a stereotype of what he perceived as dangerous. We can also see Dolorosa affects in our world by the amount of people who die annually to famine, sickness and disease. We see Dolorosa affects in the amount  of crime committed in countries around the world. It is estimated that in the United states right now the homicide rate is 5.9 per 100,00 people, it has been as high as 10.2 per 100,00 in 1980. These are human beings dieing at the hands of other human beings, the Cain and Able affect. This is a Dolorosa. I could list a lot of other instances of circumstance here on earth that confirm the earths Dolorosa status. As you reflect on your own life, do you have some Dolorosa experiences? I bet you do.

  As ominous as all of that sounds, guess what all is not lost. Jesus had to walk the lonely road of Dolorosa, but he came out the victor when his task was completed. He claimed victory over death which had all of humanity in its grip since Adam and Eve and the great fall, and because of Jesus's victory we are partakers in the subsequent events that will result which  will one day end all sufferings. It will one day end all sickness and disease, it will one day end all wars and rumors of wars, it will one day end all homicides and murder. It will one day end all envy, strife and malice. It will one day end all circumstances on earth that require us to cry, grieve and mourn. The book of Isaiah says's it this way, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—  the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,  the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— ³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; ⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.⁵ Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist."  The shoot is our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

  To conclude the Dolorosa is Latin for grief, pain and the way of suffering. The bible says's that trouble doesn't last always. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Yes, while we are here on earth we all have to deal with the circumstance of the Dolorosa, but thank God for Jesus and the price he paid at the cross, that gives us not only victory at the road of Dolorosa, but more importantly a right to the gift of salvation which all Christians will experience as eternal life. Amen